■  T 

1 

Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/carthageofphoeniOOmoorricli 


CARTHAGE    OF    THE 
PHCENICIANS 

IN   THE   LIGHT  OF   MODERN   EXCAVATION 


J.   J  J     > 


>    >:>»;» 


>   1     >) 


j'     J     •     3     J   i   J     >      J  ',>,»,>'>     J    J     '    J 


SEVEN-BRANCHED   LAMP   [Douimes) 


\See  p.  32. 


\See  p.  32. 
CARTHAGINIAN   LAMPS,    TWO  OF  PUNIC  FORM   AND   ONE   GREEK 


CARTHAGE    OF   THE 
PHCENICIANS 

IN  THE   LIGHT   OF  MODERN   EXCAVATION 


BY 

MABEL    MOORE 

•I 


WITH    NUMEROUS    ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 

E.    P.   BUTTON    &    CO. 

1905 


\(A 


Printed  in  England 


I 


PREFACE 

In  compiling  this*  small  book,  the  object  of  the 
writer  has  been  to  gather  together  in  an  epitomized 
form,  for  English  readers,  all  that  is  at  present 
known,  and  all  that  has  been  recently  discovered, 
concerning  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Carthage. 

Modern  curiosity  seems  to  be  stimulated  on 
their  behalf  by  the  fact  that  they  are,  or  have 
been  up  to  the  present,  a  lost  and  forgotten  people, 
with  whose  sea-faring,  commercial  and  colonizing 
characteristics  we  are  acquainted  only  by  hearsay 
— Roman  hearsay — having  the  disadvantages  of 
bias,  prejudice  and  the  contempt  which  goes  with 
conquest. 

Modern  excavation  in  the  Punic  Tombs  of 
Carthage  has  given  this  people  an  opportunity  of 
at  last  speaking  for  themselves,  and  it  is  to  this 
voice  from  the  grave  that  we  have  now  to  hearken, 
straining  our  ears  with  patient  sympathy,  as  the 
pick-axes  of  the  monks  of  Carthage  proceed  to 
liberate  the  stifled  spirit  of  the  past. 

This  book  could  not  have  been  written  but  for 
the  generous  assistance  of  the  Archpriest  of  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  Louis  of  Carthage,  the  Reverend 
A.  L.  Delattre,  who  is  the  moving  spirit  of  the 

236386 


vi  PREFACE 

excavations,  and  whose  valuable  records,  familiar 
to  the  whole  archaeological  world,  have  been 
placed  at  the  writer's  disposition. 

It  is  hoped  that  this  little  account  in  English, 
of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  Reverend  Father 
and  his  confreres,  may  not  only  prove  of  use  to 
those  in  England  who  are  interested  in  the 
excavation  of  ancient  cities,  but  also  serve  perhaps 
as  a  vade  Tnecutn  for  those  travellers  who  share 
the  wisdom  of  the  swallows  and  leave  our  raw 
winter  for  the  genial  realms  of  North  Africa. 

The  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the  writer  are 
also  due  to  Dr.  Wallis  Budge,  Keeper  of  the 
Oriental  Antiquities  in  the  British  Museum  ;  to 
the  late  Dr.  A.  S.  Murray,  and  to  Cecil  Smith, 
Esq.,  Keeper  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities, 
for  invaluable  help  and  direction,  most  generously 
given. 

M.  M. 


r 


t 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Part      I.  The  Necropolis  of  Douimes  7 

Part    II.  The  Necropolis  of  St.  Louis  59 

Part  III.  The  Necropolis  of  Bord-el- 

DjEDiD 126 

Index ^77 


k 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


Anthropoid  Sarcophagus  of  a  Carthaginian  Priestess. 

Reduced  facsimile  in  colour  . 

Seven-branched  and  Carthaginian  Lamps 

Punic  Mask     .... 

Punic  Necklace    . 

Gilded  Bronze  Vase    . 

Carthaginian  Vase  and  God 

Dancing  Girl  .... 

Punic  Lamps  and  Amphoraa 

Marble  Sarcophagus  of  a  Carthaginian  Priest 

Terra-cotta  Figure 

Engraved  Punic  Razors 

Engraved  Punic  Razors  . 

Etruscan  Vase  and  Golden  Pendants 

Greek  and  Etruscan  Pottery 

Etruscan  Pottery.     Corinthian  Vase . 

Terra-cotta  Busts 

Terra-cotta  Statuette  . 

Terra-cotta  Figurine  and  Statuette 

Anthropoid  Sarcophagus  of  a  Carthaginian  Priest  and 
Priestess  ...... 


Sculptured    Marble   Sarcophagus  of   a 
Lady  ..... 

Terra-cotta  Figurines . 

Terra-cotta  Dancing  Girls 

Terra-cotta  Figure 

Terra-cotta  Statuette 

Terra-cotta  Head 


Carthaginian 


Frontispiece. 

To  face  page 
32 
36 

44 

50 

60 

64 

72 

80 

88 

92 

98 

106 

112 

118 

128 

134 
140 

146 

152 
156 
160 
164 
168 
172 


PART    I 

THE  NECROPOLIS  OF  DOUIMES 

CHAPTER  I 

Cato,  in  pronouncing  the  dread  fiat,  could 
scarcely  have  contemplated  in  anticipation  a  more 
complete  fulfilment  of  his  words  ^'Delenda  est 
Carthago  "  than  that  which  actually  took  place. 

The  Roman  battle-axe  was  laid  to  the  fair  and 
flourishing  tree  and  the  mingled  fires  of  Roman 
envy  and  material  flame  combined  to  wipe  out 
Carthage  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

But  the  strong  tree  laid  low,  was  not  uprooted, 
and  subsequent  stems  of  Roman,  Christian  and 
Byzantine  growth  shot  up  once  more  from  the 
hidden  roots,  only  to  succumb  in  their  turn  to 
Vandal  and  Saracen  destruction,  followed  by 
complete  and  utter  oblivion.  ^ 

Only   a   hundred   years   ago   the   true    site    of         }i  ^^ 
Carthage  was  unknown,  and  Chateaubriand  appears 
to  have  been  the  first  to  give  to  the  world  the 


:?;;  CARTHAGE   OF   THE  PHCENICIANS 

results  of  certain  investigations  attempted  by  one 
Major  Humbert,  a  Dutchman,  which  enabled  him 
to  indicate  the  spot  occupied  by  the  Acropolis  or 
Byrsa  and  the  combined  ports  of  the  fleet  and 
commerce  of  Carthage. 

But  it  was  not  until  a  considerably  later  period 
that  it  became  possible  even  so  much  as  to  suggest 
a  name  for  the  fragmentary  ruins  fast  disappearing 
stone  by  stone  from  this  august  though  well-nigh 
naked  site. 

As  one  watches  the  Arab  following  his  plough 
over  the  ashy  soil,  turning  up  fragments  of  the 
richest  stones  the  earth  can  produce,  or  reaping  his 
corn  from  fields  where  once  stood  marble  palaces 
and  porphyry  pillars  ;  and  when  one  recollects  his 
insatiable  greed  for  building  stone  of  any  description, 
especially  in  this  land  which  of  itself  yields  only 
the  non-enduring  tufa  ;  and  lastly,  when  one  recalls 
the  fact  that  the  Arab  looks  upon  every  ruined  city 
as  a  useful  and  ready-worked  quarry,  then  the  only 
surprise  one  may  indulge  in  is,  that  there  remains 
so  much  still  to  be  told  of  Carthage  in  the  light  of 
modern  excavation.  For  curiously,  in  spite  of 
Cato,  and  subsequent  to  the  writings  of  Mons. 
Perrot,^  it  is  Punic  Carthage  which  to-day  has 
yielded  the  richest  fund  of  interest. 

The  roots  of  the  old  tree  have  lain  covered  by 
generations  upon  generations  of  forgetfulness,  and, 
consequently,  are  preserved  until  this  present  most 
fitting  age  in  which  has  been  witnessed  a  wondrous 
resurrection  of  the  lost  cities  of  the  ancient  world, 

^  Histoire  de  tArt  dans  VAntiquiti. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUIMES      9 

and  in  which  the  wise  men  of  the  earth  go  down 
into  the  valleys  and  seem  to  make  the  dry  bones 
live. 

It  was  due  to  the  efforts  of  the  late  gifted 
Cardinal  Lavigerie  that  the  systematic  excavation 
of  Carthage  was  taken  in  hand  upwards  of  twenty 
years  ago,  and  continued  with  so  much  zeal  and 
success  by  the  White  Fathers  of  Carthage  under 
the  able  guidance  of  their  learned  Chaplain,  the 
Reverend  Pere  Delattre. 

Those  sites  which  have  yielded  all  that  is  of  the 
greatest  interest,  as  throwing  light  upon  the  Punic 
origins  of  Carthage,  are  the  three  most  ancient 
necropoleis,  known_to-day  only  by  their  modern 
appellations  of  Douifmes,  St.  Louis,  and  Bord-el- 
Djedid. 

In  excavating  the  soil  of  Douimes  to  find  those 
remains  of  Punic  sepulture  which  are  conclusively 
proved  to  be  the  oldest  of  the  three  groups,  the 
objects  and  remains  of  all  ages  yielded  themselves 
in  such  perfect  successive  order  as  to  resemble  the 
arrangement  of  geological  strata.  Monuments 
there  were  of  the  lower  Carthaginian,  Roman  and 
Byzantine  periods,  Pagan  and  Christian  remains, 
souvenirs  of  the  Crusade  of  St.  Louis,  as  well  as 
subsequent  Arab  art  and  craft.  Above  all,  it  is 
Christian  Carthage  which  has  disappeared,  while 
the  oldest  epoch  of  all  can  show  the  best  preserva- 
tion of  its  sepulchral  remains  in  these  cities  of  the 
dead. 

But  before  detailing  the  discoveries,  it  may 
perhaps  be  well  to  sum  up  first  as  much  as  can  be 
gathered   concerning    this   lost    and    little-known 


10     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

people,  their  characteristics,  their  customs,  and, 
above  all,  their  religion,  in  order  to  approach  with 
some  degree  of  comprehension  the  objects  yielded 
by  excavation,  and  to  interpret  as  far  as  possible 
the  story  which  they  help  to  tell. 

Mesopotamia,  the  traditional  site  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  would  seem  to  show  a  strong  claim  to  be 
regarded  as  the  birthplace  of  that  Semitic  race 
which  survives  in  the  present  form  of  Jew,  Turk 
and  Arab,  but  which  anciently  appeared  on  earth 
under  the  diverse  types  of  Assyrian,  Jew,  Canaanite 
or  Phoenician,  and  possibly  also  Etruscan.  And 
it  is  to  an  Assyrian  origin  that  we  are  able  to  trace 
back  so  frequently  the  art  and  symbolism  of  much 
that  comes  to  light  in  the  course  of  excavating  the 
Punic  tombs  of  Carthage. 

Of  the  Carthaginian  character  this  much  may  be 
safely  concluded :  that  in  his  complete  mastery  of 
the  sea  he  was  the  antithesis  of  his  cousin  the  Jew, 
who  from  his  iron-bound  coast  might  well  look 
forward  to  the  promise  of  a  New  Jerusalem  where 
"  there  shall  be  no  more  sea  " ;  though,  by  adopting 
opposite  means  of  transit,  they  shared  the  faculty 
for  penetrating  into  far  countries  and  colonizing 
with  persistence. 

That  his  tastes  were  commercial  and  that,  in 
accordance  with  the  Semitic  character,  his  energies 
instinctively  turned  to  money-making  and  the 
advancement  of  his  worldly  interests,  would  seem 
obvious,  and  prosperity  was  no  doubt  in  ancient 
Carthage,  as  in  modern  Jewry,  the  stamp  and  seal 
of  aristocracy. 

That  while  indulging  in  every  kind  of  luxury 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUlMES      ii 

and  every  form  of  lavish  display,  he  was  loath  to 
spend  money  save  on  himself,  would  seem  to  be 
suggested  by  the  entire  absence  of  gold  and  almost 
entire  absence  of  silver  coins  among  the  funeral 
offerings  accompanying  the  dead,  and  the  frequent 
presence  among  the  bronze  coins  of  money  no 
longer  in  currency  at  the  time  when  the  corpse  was 
buried.  It  is  however  possible  that  the  persistent 
raid  upon  the  tombs,  made  through  all  ages  by  the 
Arabs,  may  account  for  the  first-mentioned  fact, 
though  it  seems  difficult  to  believe  that  every  tomb 
opened  now  for  the  first  time  by  the  White  Fathers 
has  been  previously  visited  by  these  rapacious 
Arab  thieves. 

As  to  his  military  skill  and  prowess  the  name  of 
Hannibal  alone  would  be  sufficient  answer  to  any 
question  on  that  point.  But  it  was  from  motives 
of  patriotism  and  self-preservation  that  the  Car- 
thaginian fought.  His  natural  instincts  were  not 
warlike,  and  fighting  for  its  own  sake  never  appealed 
to  him.  He  was  probably  more  reasoning  than 
emotional,  and  commerce  rather  than  fighting 
appealed  to  his  reason.  Brave  no  doubt  he  was, 
for  though  pushing  his  successes  in  times  of 
prosperity,  there  is  ample  proof  that  he  endured 
toughly  his  hardships  in  times  of  disaster.  Most 
probably  too  he  was  cruel,  with  the  sullen  revenge- 
ful savagery  of  the  true  Oriental,  and  certainly  the 
type  of  countenance  depicted  on  some  of  the  terra 
cottas  would  lead  one  to  conclude  him  to  have 
been  an  undesirable  enemy. 

But  with  regard  to  Punica  fides  it  may  be  well 
to  remember  that  hitherto  we  have  been  forced  to 


12    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

regard  the  Carthaginian,  for  the  most  part,  through 
the  medium  of  Roman  prejudice,  and  that  it  is  wise 
to  be  guarded  as  to  the  extent  of  our  acceptance 
of  such  bitter  and  unqualified  criticism. 

Of  his  architectural  powers  we  have  no  means, 
unfortunately,  of  judging.  Whether  in  the  laby- 
rinthan  streets  of  Tunis,  the  contemporary  city  of 
Carthage,  remains  are  still  embedded  among  its 
masonry  of  Punic  structures,  is  a  question  interest- 
ing to  ask  but  hard  to  answer.  We  know  the 
major  part  of  all  the  artistic  and  manufactured 
articles  found  in  the  tombs  are  of  imported  foreign 
workmanship  as  well  as  design.  The  heavy 
massive  tombs  alone  remain  in  Carthage  as  types 
of  his  building  powers. 

When  the  Romans  destroyed  the  whole  of  the 
Carthaginian  literature  save  one  agricultural  treatise, 
it  was  their  own  utilitarian  taste  which  led  them 
to  choose  this  particular  work,  but  it  would  be 
unwise  and  undiscerning  to  conclude  therefore  that 
all  Punic  literature  was  of  a  like  utilitarian  character 
— for  though  we  know  they  raised  the  science  of 
agriculture  to  an  astonishing  degree  of  skill,  we 
also  remember  that  the  Semitic  soul  has  evolved 
such  diverse  and  lasting  monuments  of  literature 
as  the  Psalms  of  David  and  the  Arabian  Nights. 

Of  their  habits  in  food  and  dress  we  have  certain 
definite  though  not  extensive  information.  On 
one  occasion  an  embassy  was  sent  to  Carthage  by 
Darius,  praying  them  not  to  eat  the  flesh  of  dogs, 
and  Plautus  makes  passing  mention  of  their  pulse- 
eating  propensity  and  their  "long  trailing  foreign 
dresses  "  ;  while  recent  research  confirms  the  fact 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUlMES     13 

dwelt  upon  by  Pliny  as  to  the  simplicity  of  the 
Carthaginian  costume,  which  consisted  only  of  a 
tunic  without  either  mantle  or  girdle.  This  to 
Roman  eyes  looked  like  nothing  more  than  a 
bathing  costume  :  "  Numnam  it  a  balneis  ?  " 

Seeing  the  slaves  who  followed  Hanno  wearing 
rings  in  their  ears,  Milphio  adds,  *'  Atque  ut  opinor 
digitos  in  manibus  non  habent.  Quid  jam  ?  Quod 
incedunt cum  anulatis auribus"  And  Plautus  makes 
this  same  Milphio  invoke  Hanno  in  these  terms, 
"  Tu  qui  zonam  non  habes  !  " 

Finally,  in  one  other  respect  did  the  custom  of 
the  Carthaginian  differ  from  his  contemporaries,  the 
Greek  and  Roman,  in  that  he  practised  inhumation 
in  preference  to  cremation,  and  thus  acted  consist- 
ently with  Semitic  ideas.  That  he  at  a  later  date 
adopted  the  practice  of  cremation,  is  true,  and  for 
a  very  definite  reason,  as  will  be  shown  later, 
but  he  nevertheless  clung  to  and  never  wholly 
abandoned  his  older  and  racial  custom. 

And  so  it  comes  about  that  while  in  the  Necro- 
polis of  Doui'mes,  the  oldest  known  Punic  cemetery, 
instances  of  cremation  are  almost  entirely  absent, 
in  that  of  Bord-el-Djedid  they  are  frequently  met 
with,  the  cemetery  known  as  the  Necropole  de  St. 
Louis  filling  up  the  gap  and  forming  the  link 
between  the  two  separate  epochs  belonging  to  the 
first-named  necropoleis. 


CHAPTER    II 

But  for  a  full  comprehension  of  the  ideals 
and  motives  of  a  people,  it  is  invariably  to  their 
religious  beliefs  we  must  turn,  and  it  is  here  that 
we  shall  find  the  solution  of  much  that  would 
otherwise  remain  cryptic. 

The  school-boy  knows  well  enough  that  Punic 
Carthage  was  given  up  to  the  worship  of  Baal,  but 
when  we  go  further  and  try  to  understand  what 
was  actually  the  essence  of  this  degrading  Baal 
worship,  we  find  it  to  have  been  a  manifestation 
of  that  all-pervading  Sun  and  Moon  worship,  or 
worship  of  the  vivifying  principle  of  Nature  which, 
in  its  dual  form,  underlay  the  whole  of  the  physical 
world  ;  a  worship  as  surely  the  antithesis  of  the 
Christian  spiritual  ideal  as  death  is  the  antithesis 
of  life,  but  nevertheless  a  worship  which,  by  reason 
of  the  universality  of  its  symbols,  would  seem  to 
have  formed  the  nucleus  of  all  the  faiths,  save  one, 
that  the  world  has  ever  known. 

As  it  spread  over  the  face  of  the  earth  and  was 
readily  accepted  by  all  nations  and  kindreds  and 
peoples  and  tongues,  the  worship  and  its  symbols, 
from  Budh  Gaya  to  Mexico,  remaining  for  ever 
the  same,  it  was  the  deities  only  who  changed  their 

14 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUtMES     15 

names    as   they   changed   their   climes,  and    local 
legends  gathered  fast  around  them. 

The  degree  of  elevation  or  depravity  to  which 
this  worship  was  capable  of  attaining  would 
naturally  entirely  depend  on  the  varied  tempera- 
ments of  its  votaries,  but  that  it  was  capable  of 
lending  itself  to  all  forms  of  horror  and  degrada- 
tion has  been  only  too  frequently  and  too  fully 
proved.  Here  then  was  the  "  abomination  of  the 
Sidonians,"  the  temptation  which  ever  beset  the 
steps  of  the  Jews  in  their  journey  both  spiritual 
and  temporal  to  the  Promised  Land. 

From  the  universal  domination  of  this  Baal  or 
Bel  worship,  then,  the  Phoenician  no  more  escaped 
than  the  rest  of  humanity  has  done  from  the  time 
when  Nimrod  the  Hunter  erected  the  Tower  of 
Ba-Bel  on  the  Plain  of  Shinar,  which  reached,  or 
rather  pointed  unto  heaven,  till  that  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Samuel  Laing,  who  says  : — 

"The  last  traces  of  the  Summer  solstice  are 
still  lingering  in  the  remote  parts  of  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  in  the  Bel-fires  which,  when  I  was  young, 
were  lighted  on  Midsummer  Night  on  the  highest 
hills  of  Orkney  and  Shetland.  As  a  boy  I  have 
rushed  with  my  playmates  through  the  smoke  of 
these  bonfires  without  a  suspicion  that  we  were 
repeating  the  homage  paid  to  Ba^l  in  the  Valley  of 
Hinnom." 

Nor  are  the  Bel-fires  yet  extinguished.  They 
burn  as  they  have  ever  done  on  Midsummer  Eve 
throughout  the  fair  land  of  France,  but  con- 
secrated to  the  honour  of  St.  Jean  Baptiste.  And 
indeed  we   may  trace   the   demon  whom    Milton 


j6    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

calls  Baalzebub,  and  whom  Christ  reveals  as  the 
Father  of  Lies,  to  this  very  living  present  when  in 
Christian  Brittany  the  peasants  pay  secret  reverence 
to  their  Menhirs  or  erect  stones,  rubbing  them  with 
honey,  wax,  and  oil,  when  they  would  be  freed 
from  the  curse  of  sterility. 

On  the  Menhir  at  Dol,  subsequent  Christianity 
has  consecrated  this  monolith  by  carving  on  its 
surface  a  representation  of  the  Crucifixion,  but 
above  this  sacred  emblem  may  be  seen  staring 
forth,  as  though  in  exulting  pagan  triumph,  the 
Masonic  symbols  of  the  sun  and  crescent  moon, 
representing,  to  the  ancient  mind,  the  father  and 
the  mother  of  the  physical  world. 

The  Gods  of  Carthage  were  primarily  of  Sidonian 
origin,  but  side  by  side  with  them  are  found,  especi- 
ally in  the  oldest  tombs,  images  and  representations 
in  countless  numbers  of  many  of  the  gods  of  the 
Egyptians.  This  is  not  so  surprising  when  we 
remember  the  ease  with  which  the  ancients  seem 
to  have  accepted  foreign  gods  whom  they  without 
any  apparent  difficulty  identified  with  their  own 
by  the  simple  process  of  re-christening  them. 

The  Masonic  symbolism  of  Sun  and  Moon 
worship  in  this  respect  made  the  whole  world  kin. 
It  was  the  Jew  alone  who  in  his  struggle  to  main- 
tain faith  in  the  one  true  spiritual  God  stood 
absolutely  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  since 
his  was  the  faith  which  could  have  no  part  or  lot 
with  any  other,  all  others  being  fundamentally  and 
diametrically  opposed  to  his  own. 

Possibly  herein  may  lie  hidden  the  explanation 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUIMES     17 

of  that  curious  moral  phenomenon,  the  wide- 
spread antipathy  (we  might  even  say  physical 
antipathy)  to  the  Jew  evinced  by  so  many  Christian 
peoples  and  races ;  not,  most  probably,  arising 
from  Christian  zeal  in  the  Middle  Ages  or  any  age 
within  the  last  two  thousand  years ;  not  because 
the  Christian  people  by  reason  of  their  purer 
doctrine  and  higher  ideals  are,  theoretically  at 
least,  superior  to  the  Jews,  but  simply  and  solely 
because  the  races  which  are  now  Christian,  some 
twenty  centuries  ago,  belonged  to  "those  lesser 
breeds  without  the  law,"  those  nations  of  the 
Gentiles,  all  of  them  without  exception  given  over 
to  the  worship  of  human  passion.  For  it  is  not 
from  Christians  alone  that  the  Jew  suffers  expul- 
sion. Nothing  could  be  more  striking  than  the 
whole-hearted  aversion  shown  by  the  Arabs  of 
to-day  to  their  Hebrew  cousins,  for,  though  in  the 
East  they  have  lived  side  by  side  throughout  the 
ages,  have  dressed  alike  and  in  most  respects  lived 
alike,  never  have  they  mingled,  nor  do  they  mingle, 
in  the  great  functions  of  their  lives,  in  their 
marriages,  in  their  worship,  or  in  their  feasts. 
Indeed  so  strong  is  the  antipathy  of  the  Arab  for 
the  Jew,  that  while  loath  to  admit  a  Christian  inside 
his  mosque,  he  will  in  some  places  and  in  some 
cases,  for  certain  considerations,  influential  and 
otherwise,  relax  this  rule,  on  condition  that  the 
visitor  states  on  his  oath  that  he  is  not  a  Jew  nor 
of  Jewish  blood. 

It  is  indeed  only  necessary  to  re-read  the  fierce 
denunciations  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets  against 
Jerusalem,  on  her  lapses  into  idolatry,  to  realize 


i8     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

how  hard  was  her  task  in  thus  upholding  the  true 
faith  alone  in  a  world  of  Ba^l  worshippers,  and 
how  often  she  failed  and  fell  from  her  proud 
position  of  protest  against  this  universal  adoration 
of  human  passion. 

The  question  as  to  why  the  Egyptian  gods  in 
their  original  character  are  found  side  by  side  with 
those  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  in  the  Punic  tombs 
cannot  as  yet  be  answered  with  certainty. 

It  is  possible  that  when  driven  from  the  land  of 
Canaan  by  the  Children  of  Israel,  the  Phoenicians 
passed  through  Egypt,  or  possibly  sojourned  there 
before  eventually  finding  their  way  to  the  loveliest 
gulf  of  the  Mediterranean  to  found  the  Kirjath 
Hadeschath,  or  New  City,  in  the  neighbourhood  ot 
the  more  ancient  Utica. 

For  modern  criticism  has  dispelled  the  charm 
which  lingered  round  the  legend  of  Dido  and  her 
association  with  the  foundation  of  Carthage,  and 
we  are  to  relinquish  our  faith  in  the  pleasing  story 
of  the  bull's  hide  cut  into  many  strips,  and  to 
accept  Byrsa  as  being  derived  from  Bozra,  a 
Semitic  word  signifying  *  fortress.' 

In  Egypt  they  may  have  learned  the  cult  of 
Osiris,  or  perhaps  it  was  only  in  the  process  of 
trafficking  commercially  with  the  people  of  the 
Nile  that  they  came  into  possession  of  such 
quantities  of  graven  images  and  amulets  bearing 
a  wholly  Egyptian  character. 

Further  labours  in  the  tombs  of  Carthage  and 
further  comparative  study,  prosecuted  by  the  wise 
White  Fathers,  may  possibly  reveal  in  time  a 
complete  answer  to  this  question. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUlMES     19 

Meanwhile  the  gods  of  Carthage  may  be  dealt 

with  in  order — beginning  with 

"...  Astoreth,  whom  the  Phoenicians  call'd 
Astarte,  queen  of  heaven,  with  crescent  horns ; 
To  whose  bright  image  nightly  by  the  moon 
Sidonian  virgins  paid  their  vows  and  songs." 

We  find  her  first  in  Chaldaea,  where,  under  the 
name  of  Ishtah,  she  takes  her  place  as  Virgo  the 
Virgin,  among  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac. 

Ishtah,  according  to  a  Chaldaean  poem,  went  to 
the  under-world,  the  world  of  the  dead,  in  search 
of  the  Sun-god  who  had  been  taken  away  by  death. 

Ishtah  is  said  to  have  knocked  at  the  mournful 
and  dusky  gates  of  the  nether  world,  and  was  at 
first  refused  admittance.  When  she  at  length 
gained  entrance,  she  found  a  succession  of  other 
gates,  and  at  every  one  she  was  deprived  of  some 
article  or  ornament  of  dress.  Her  head-dress, 
earrings,  necklace,  even  her  beautiful  outer  robe, 
were  taken  away,  and  in  humiliation  she  was 
brought  before  the  ruler  of  that  gloomy  place. 

During  her  stay  beneath,  everything  in  the  world 
above  became  cold  and  lifeless,  being  deprived  of 
the  divine  influence  of  love. 

When  at  length  she  was  released  and  restored 
to  the  Sun-god,  and  together  they  returned  to  the 
upper  air,  great  was  the  joy  of  the  reviving  earth. 

In  a  votive  tablet  from  South  Arabia  her  name 
is  spelt  Athtah,  approaching,  rather  more  nearly, 
the  Ashteroth  of  Canaan  and  the  Astarte  of 
Carthage.  In  Greece  she  becomes  Aphrodite,  or 
again  Persephone,  and  therefore  to  the  Romans, 
Proserpina,  though  indeed  they  identified  her 
variously  with  Diana  and  Venus  Coelestis. 


20    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

A  question  arises  to-day  as  to  whether  or  no  she 
is  to  be  identified  with  Tanith  of  Lebanon.  Recent 
excavations  at  Carthage  having  brought  to  Hght  a 
long  Punic  inscription  in  which  is  mentioned  the 
dedication  of  a  Temple  to  the  Goddess  Tanith 
and  the  Goddess  Astarte,  archaeologists  are  natur- 
ally considering  whether  the  two  separate  names 
are  now  to  be  looked  upon  as  belonging  to  two 
separate  personalities  rather  than  the  various  titles 
of  one  deity. 

Possibly  the  answer  to  this  question  may  be, 
that  the  name  Astarte  and  Tanith  signified  two 
separate  and  quite  opposite  aspects  of  the  one 
goddess,  i.e.  that  while  Tanith  may  have  been 
symbolic  of  the  full  moon  and  likewise  of  mother- 
hood, Astarte,  on  the  other  hand,  signified  the 
crescent  or  virgin  moon.  This  would  seem  to 
offer  an  answer  to  the  question  as  to  why  the 
Romans  should  elect  to  identify  her  with  such 
different  personalities  as  Venus  Ccelestis  and  Diana. 

In  Assyrian  mythology  the  planet  Venus  was 
worshipped  as  the  chaste  goddess  Istar  when  she 
appeared  as  a  morning  star,  but  as  the  impure 
Bilit  or  Beltis  when  she  shone  as  an  evening  star. 

Again,  among  the  Phoenicians  of  Syria,  Astoreth 
is  her  name  when  she  is  the  chaste  goddess,  but 
Ashera  answers  to  the  idea  of  a  foul  spirit.  Thus 
the  two  aspects  of  the  moon,  the  first  and  the  last, 
the  crescent  and  the  full,  were  variously  interpreted. 
Tainat,  the  Chaldaean  prototype  of  Tanith,  had  the 
form  of  a  monstrous  dragon  or  Sphinx — winged, 
scaly,  and  with  lion's  feet. 

Traces  of  the  worship  of  the  virgin  goddess  are 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUIMES     21 

still  lingering  among  us  in  those  many  crescent-like 
objects  which,  it  is  claimed  by  the  superstitious, 
bring  good  luck.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned 
the  horseshoe,  the  wish-bone  or  merrythought,  from 
the  breast  of  a  chicken,  the  lucky  hand  of  Fatmeh 
in  vogue  among  the  Arabs,  and  a  similar  hand 
fashioned  usually  in  coral  and  used  by  the  Italians 
to  ward  off  the  evil  eye  ;  not  to  mention  the 
familiar  gesture  of  raising  the  index  and  little 
finger  so  as  to  leave,  as  it  were,  the  two  horns  of 
the  crescent  moon.  To  this  list  may  even  be 
added  the  croissant  roll,  familiar  to  the  French 
breakfast-table,  being  a  survival  of  one  of  the 
forms  of  cakes  baked  for  the  Queen  of  Heaven. 
Even  the  lucky  eyelash  must  not  be  forgotten  ;  as 
it  lies  on  the  back  of  the  hand  of  the  superstitious, 
waiting  to  be  beaten  off  as  soon  as  the  "  wish  "  is 
made,  it  delicately  but  very  perfectly  describes  a 
crescent — a  perfect  miniature  of  the  very  new 
moon. 

Accepting  this  view  of  the  emblematic  value  of 
crescentiform  symbols,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the 
cow,  on  account  of  its  horns,  has  appealed  so 
strongly  to  the  heathen  imagination,  no  matter 
whether  this  appeal  effected  the  making  of  Golden 
Calves,  or  legends  of  lo,  or  pictures  of  Isis,  or  the 
Cow-worship  surviving  in  present-day  Hindooism. 

Among  the  Phallic  Towers  still  scattered  over 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  usually  symbolic  of  the 
male  principle,  or  Sun-god,  will  be  remembered  the 
"  Devil's  Tower "  of  Gibraltar,  which,  unlike  most 
other  examples,  is  crowned  or  completed  with  two 
horns. 


CHAPTER   III 

Following  after  Astarte  in  alphabetical  order 
comes  Baal  Moloch,  whom  the  Romans  identified 
with  Saturn,  and  the  Greeks  with  Chronos,  since 
he  was  the  devourer  of  his  own  children,  and  who 
may  likewise  without  hesitation  be  identified  with 
Beelzebub  or  Satan.  Dr.  Davis,  during  his  labours 
at  Carthage,  did  not  find  a  single  tablet  which 
omitted  his  name.  It  is  more  than  probable, 
however,  that  the  term  Baal  admits  of  a  double 
interpretation,  and  includes  two  different  aspects 
of  one  idea,  being  the  name  under  which  were 
united  the  two  everlasting  principles  underlying 
the  whole  of  nature— the  male  and  female, — and 
that  when  we  find  Baal  in  conjunction  with  the 
horns  or  crescent,  serpent,  pyramid  or  triangle,  it 
is  Baal  Astoreth,  the  female  principle  or  goddess, 
who  is  represented. 

No  one  who  has  once  entered  the  Gulf  of  Tunis 
can  fail  to  have  been  impressed  by  the  majestic 
Bou-Khornain,  or  Two-Horned  Mountain,  whose 
eternal  grandeur  was  there  the  same  as  to-day 
when  St.  Louis  closed  his  eyes  for  the  last  time 
upon  it ;  whose  horns  had  pierced  through  the 
cloud  which  hung  round  it,  as  it  hangs  to-day 
when  Hannibal,  Scipio,  Saints  Augustine,  Monica 


THE  NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUIMES     23 

and  Belisarius,  lifted  their  eyes  to  it,  and  when  the 
Martyrs,  Saints  Cyprian,  Perpetua,  and  Felicitas, 
perished  within  view  of  it.  The  hot  springs  welled 
up  within  its  volcanic  heart  then,  as  they  do  to-day, 
flowing  out  over  the  little  Arab  town  of  Hammam 
Lif,  whose  name,  being  interpreted,  means  "  Baths 
of  Life,"  and  staining  the  soil  a  rich  ferruginous 
red  as  its  waters  go  to  join  the  sea. 

On  the  western  point  of  this  mountain,  where  in 
the  old  days  the  priests  of  Carthage  were  wont  to 
sacrifice,  an  altar  was  discovered  in  i89i,and  some 
hundreds  of  votive  offerings  to  the  god  Saturn, 
surnamed  Balcaranensis,  a  word  in  which  it  is  easy 
to  recognize  the  name  of  Horned  Badl,  BaM 
Kornain,  closely  approaching  the  actual  present- 
day  name  of  the  mountain,  Bou  Khornafn,  or 
Bou  Khornine,  which  signifies  "Two-Horned 
Mountain." 

A  stele  decorated  with  a  triangle  enclosing  a 
star,  engraved  above  a  crescent  whose  ends  pointed 
upwards,  was  also  found.  Beneath  the  triangle  the 
following  letters  could  be  read — 

SATV  mo  Bal 

CAR  anensis 

sacrum. 

The  name  Ba^l  Kornain  or  Bou  Khornain  recalls 
that  of  the  city  Asteroth  Karnaim,  mentioned  in 
the  Book  of  Genesis  (xiv.  5),  which  in  all  proba- 
bility was  so  named  for  the  reason  that  it  was  built 
on  a  mountain  with  two  summits. 

Another  Sidonian  deity,  likewise  of  Chaldaean 
origin,  found  his  way  to  the  Pantheon  of  Carthage. 


24     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

This  god,  known  to  the  Greeks  by  the  name  of 
Triton,  has  left  no  Punic  name  behind,  but  is 
nevertheless  recognizable  as  the  "twice-battered 
god"  of  Canaan — Dagon  the  fish-god,  or  god  of 
the  sea. 

The  Chaldaean  story,  which  recalls  the  Christian 
LxOvSy  tells  how  one  Cannes  or  Ea-Han,  a  divine 
fish-man,  came  out  of  the  Persian  Gulf  and  taught 
mankind  art,  science,  laws,  and  letters. 

In  this  last-mentioned  god  may  be  traced  the 
mystic  and  ubiquitous  name  of  John,  a  name 
which,  followed  back  through  any  channel,  inevit- 
ably arrives  at  the  sacred  source  of  Jehovah  or 
Jove. 

Lastly  among  the  Sidonian  deities  comes  Mel- 
carth,  to  whom  one  learned  writer  turns  with  a 
sigh  of  relief,  from  the  evil  atmosphere  of  Ba^l 
Moloch  and  Astarte. 

Melcarth  or  Melech  Kirjath,  called  by  the  Greeks 
the  Phoenician  Hercules,  was  pre-eminently  god 
of  the  City  of  Tyre,  and  Herodotus,  who  visited 
his  temple  there,  mentions  that  though  no  image  of 
the  god  was  to  be  seen,  it  contained  two  splendid 
pillars,  one  of  pure  gold  and  one  of  emerald,  which 
shone  brilliantly  at  night. 

Here  undoubtedly,  however,  was  but  one  more 
manifestation  of  the  ruling  idea  in  their  system  of 
worship,  and  the  two  splendid  pillars,  the  true 
Pillars  of  Hercules,  like  Hiram's  pillars  at  the 
porch  of  Solomon's  temple,  were  symbolic  of  the 
vitalizing  principle  in  nature.  The  gold  pillar 
would  represent  the  colour  of  the  sun,  and  the 
emerald  the  colour  of  that  serpent  which,  in  this 


THE   NECROPOLIS  OF   DOUIMES     25 

terrible  doctrine,  completed  the  trinity  of  evil. 
We  are  not,  however,  told  if  they  were  united  by 
an  arch  which  would  represent  the  Moon. 

Of  the  Egyptian  Pantheon  the  following  deities 
are  represented  in  the  Punic  tombs  : — 

Anubisy  the  jackal-faced  god,  who  was  wor- 
shipped by  the  Egyptians  as  a  deity  possibly 
because  the  tombs  of  the  dead  were  the  haunts  of 
the  jackal,  and  because  from  their  fear  and  dread 
they  evolved  the  idea  that  the  beast  who  prowled 
among  and  sometimes  devoured  the  bodies  of  the 
dead  was  therefore  the  guide  of  the  dead  in  the 
under-world  on  their  way  to  Osiris. 

Ast  or  IsiSy  whose  hieroglyphic  symbol  was  a 
throne  or  altar,  and  who,  crowned  with  the  horns 
enclosing  a  disc,  was  wholly  significant  of  the 
feminine  spirit  of  the  universe — was  robed  and 
crowned  by  the  wings  and  head  of  the  sacred 
Vulture.  That  this  sacred  adornment  or  robe  of 
office  was  worn  by  Carthaginian  priestesses  is  con- 
clusively shown  on  the  most  beautiful  Punic 
sarcophagus  as  yet  discovered. 

BeSy  clothed  in  a  I3vpcra,  or  bull's  hide,  and  some- 
times playing  on  a  harp,  was  worshipped  as  the 
God  of  Music,  slaughter,  and  war,  and  as  a 
destroying  force  of  nature. 

Pthahy  a  form  of  the  Sun-god,  was  the  chief  god 
of  all  handicraftsmen  and  workers  in  metals  and 
stone,  and  was  identified  by  the  Greeks  with  Vulcan. 

Rd,  the  Sun-god,  being  operative  and  creative  in 
power,  and  in  age  the  oldest  of  all  except  Osiris. 

Osiris y  the  God  of  the  Dead. — The  oldest  re- 
ligious texts  refer  to  him  as  being  the  great  God 


26    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

of  the  Dead,  and  state  that  he  once  possessed 
human  form  and  lived  on  earth,  and  that  by  means 
of  some  unusual  power  or  powers  he  was  able  to 
bestow  upon  himself  after  death  a  new  life,  which 
he  lived  in  a  new  body  as  king,  into  which  life  he 
was  believed  to  be  willing  to  admit  all  such  as  had 
lived  a  good  and  correct  life. 

Amen  Rd^  the  names  originally  of  two  distinct 
deities  who  after  the  Thirteenth  Dynasty  were 
united  into  one  composite  being,  the  Sun-god  or 
author  of  the  creative  and  generative  principles. 

The  oudjah,  or  mystic  eye  of  Osiris,  is  also  met 
with,  together  with  the  Scarabaeus  and  the  Uraeus, 
emblems  of  Royalty  and  Divinity,  and  there  are 
amulets  and  other  representations  of  such  Egyptian 
objects  of  worship  as  the  Lotus,  the  Lion,  the 
Cynocephalus,  the  Bull  of  Apis,  Sparrowhawks, 
Crocodiles,  Serpents,  etc. 

The  remaining  symbols  belonging  properly  to 
Carthage  are  as  follows  : — 

The  Palm,  worshipped  at  Carthage  no  doubt 
on  account  of  the  resemblance  of  its  foliage  to  the 
rising  sun. 

The  Horse. — Tradition  says  that  Carthage  was 
built  on  a  spot  where  a  horse's  head  was  dug 
up.  The  horse  in  one  form  or  another  invariably 
appears  on  the  Punic  coins,  and  in  many  instances 
it  is  winged  like  its  Assyrian  prototype. 

The  disc  of  Tanith  (full  moon). 

The  crescent  of  Astarte  (new  moon). 

The  Triangle. 

The  Fish, 

The  Dove. 


THE   NECROPOLIS  OF   DOUlMES     27 

It  now  remains  to  record  in  order  the  funeral 
offerings,  inscriptions,  and  other  objects,  recovered 
in  turn  from  the  three  Punic  Necropoleis  respect- 
ively of  DouYmes,  St.  Louis,  and  Bord-el-Djedid. 


CHAPTER    IV 

In  1892  an  Arab  stone  searcher  came  to  the 
Convent  of  the  White  Fathers,  with  some  small 
objects  which  he  wished  to  show  to  the  Reverend 
Pere  Delattre,  the  Arch-priest  of  Carthage,  having 
just  found  them  in  a  plot  of  ground  which  went  by 
the  Arab  name  of  Douimes. 

Till  this  moment  futile  attempts  had  been  made 
by  various  archaeologists,  besides  the  White  Fathers 
themselves,  to  discover  some  true  indications  of  the 
oldest  forms  of  Punic  burial. 

The  objects  in  question  proved  to  be  as 
follows  : — 

A  silver  earring,  some  necklace  beads,  some  of 
silver,  some  of  hard  stone  and  some  of  blue,  green 
or  white  faience.  Many  of  them,  being  of  Egyptian 
workmanship,  proved  to  skilled  eyes  peculiarly 
interesting.  Two  tiny  figurines  represented  the 
God  Phthah,  two  others  the  God  Bes.  From  the 
experience  acquired  by  previous  excavations  it  was 
obvious  that  these  articles  of  adornment  could  only 
have  come  from  a  Punic  tomb. 

The  Arab  was  thereupon  engaged  to  continue 

his  search  and  acquaint  the  Reverend  Father  with 

the  result.     But  not  finding  that  which  above  all 

was    the    object    of    his    attentive   consideration, 

28 


f         THE   NECROPOLIS  OF  DOUlMES     29 

namely,  a  wall  which  he  could  destroy,  in  order  to 
sell  the  stones  to  a  builder,  he  soon  abandoned  the 
field  in  question  in  order  to  drive  his  pickaxe  into 
some  other  point  of  the  old  city. 

Nevertheless  the  clue  had  been  given,  but  various 
considerations  hindered  commencing  the  excavation 
of  this  fascinating  spot. 

The  Fathers  must  first  find  the  means  necessary 
to  satisfy  the  money-hungry  Arabs  whom  it  would 
be  necessary  to  employ  in  their  undertaking.  And 
so  it  came  about  that  it  was  not  until  the  following 
year,  after  the  harvest,  that  they  could  see  their 
way  to  setting  to  work. 

A  covering  of  grey  soil  about  two  metres  in 
depth  was  first  dug  into  before  arriving  at  the 
primitive  clay  in  which  the  Carthaginians  had 
hollowed  out  the  last  dwelling-places  of  their 
dead. 

By  the  month  of  November  1893  sixty  tombs 
were  opened.  The  greater  number  were  nothing 
more  than  simple  graves  covered  with  slabs  of 
unworked  tufa,  the  only  species  of  stone  employed 
by  primitive  Carthaginians  for  construction.  By  a 
process  of  infiltration  each  grave  was  filled  with  a 
deposit  of  fine  yellow  sand. 

The  funereal  accompaniments  were  usually  com- 
posed of  two  double-handled  urns  of  medium  size, 
two  small  single-handled  phials  or  vases,  a  flat  lamp 
with  two  beaks  and  its  patera  or  saucer,  and  to  this 
set  of  articles  was  occasionally  found  added  a 
bronze  hatchet  razor,  a  handbell,  a  pair  of  cymbals, 
a  mirror  and  other  articles  of  toilette,  necklaces^ 
rings,  bracelets,  pendants,  painted  vases,  figurines 


30    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

masks,  amulets,  scarabaei,  shells  and  little  stones, 
and  many  miscellaneous  objects  in  ivory,  gold, 
silver,  lead,  etc. 

To  avoid  a  repetition  of  the  finds  recorded 
in  the  Journal  or  daily  log-book  of  the  Fathers, 
the  plan  adopted  will  be  to  take  each  object  in 
turn  and  give,  as  far  as  possible,  a  comparative 
description  of  it. 

By  the  following  March,  in  the  year  1894,  the 
number  of  tombs  discovered  had  mounted  to  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  last  of  these  deserves 
notice.  It  was  composed  of  one  chamber,  of 
which  the  ceiling  was  protected  by  a  sort  of 
ridge,  formed  by  the  divisions  abutting  one 
against  the  other,  a  type  of  subterranean  con- 
struction already  met  with  in  the  Necropolis  of 
St  Louis. 

The  interior  of  the  chamber  was  absolutely 
intact.  To  the  left,  along  the  side  of  the  wall, 
three  slight  infiltrations  of  sand  only  had  succeeded 
in  penetrating  the  vertical  joints  of  the  flagstones. 
The  chamber  enclosed  no  sarcophagi  analogous  to 
those  of  St.  Louis.  On  the  contrary,  the  two 
skeletons  lying  there  were  reposing  directly  on  the 
stone  slabs.  The  bones  lay  completely  disjointed 
and  flat  upon  the  ground,  only  the  extremities  of 
the  larger  ones  having  preserved  their  form.  But 
in  each  case  there  was  found  mingled  with  the 
crumbled  bones,  shreds  of  rotten  wood,  and  in 
between  parts  of  the  bones  and  wood  existed  a 
layer  of  fine  yellow  sand,  all  of  which  would  seem 
to  point  to  the  conclusion  that  a  cedar-wood  coffin 
had  first  enclosed  the  corpses,  had  admitted  the 


THE  NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUIMES     31 

infiltration  of  sand,  and  finally  had  crumbled  into 
decay  around  the  skeleton. 

Another  tomb,  discovered  in  July  of  the  same 
year,  probably  enclosed  the  remains  of  a  fisher- 
man, for  two  bronze  fish-hooks  were  there  and 
several  pieces  of  lead,  with  which  last  no  doubt  he 
was  wont  to  weight  his  net.  Here  likewise  were 
found  the  remains  of  a  very  thick  sheet  of  lead  or 
tin,  which  seemed  to  have  covered  a  large  part  of 
the  body,  and  which  served  possibly  as  a  coffin. 

In  October,  an  exceptionally  large  tomb  was 
opened,  two  and  a  half  metres  in  length  and  one 
and  a  half  in  width,  and  1*44  metres  in  height,  the 
corpse  being  buried  at  a  depth  of  nine  metres 
below  the  actual  soil.  Two  skeletons  were  here, 
and  a  golden  ring  and  a  bronze  bracelet  lay  beside 
the  crumbling  bones  of  the  arm.  A  peculiarity  of 
this  tomb  was  that  the  walls  were  plastered  with 
stucco  of  an  extremely  fine  and  durable  character, 
with  the  white  and  crystallized  appearance  of  snow, 
which,  when  illuminated  by  the  candles  of  those 
who  entered,  sparkled  with  a  thousand  luminous 
points.  Part  of  this  plastering  had  become  de- 
tached, and  had  fallen  in  large  sheets  on  to  the 
skeleton  ;  another  part,  without  breaking  away, 
inclined  forward  like  a  huge  sheet  of  cardboard. 
The  density  of  this  stucco  was  such  that  at  the  least 
touch  it  gave  out  a  metallic  ringing  sound.  An 
enormous  and  perfectly  square  stone  closed  the 
opening  of  this  tomb.  A  golden  disc  about  the 
size  of  a  sixpence,  found  together  with  many  other 
accompaniments,  deserves  especial  notice.  It  was 
almost  covered  with  microscopic  Punic  characters. 


32     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS    | 

They  proved  to  be  archaic,  belonging  to  the  fifth 
or  sixth  century  B.C.  ;  deciphered  by  M.  Philippe 
Berger,  the  inscription  reads  thus  : — "  To  Astarte 
Pygmalion,  Tadmelak,  son  of  Padai,  Pygmalion 
delivers  whomsoever  he  will." 

Here  we  have  not  only  the  name  of  the  man 
buried  in  this  tomb,  but  also  the  hitherto  un- 
known association  of  Pygmalion  in  the  Pantheon 
of  Carthage. 

Another  tomb  belonging  to  the  series  of  those 
opened  in  1895  contained  an  earthen  phial 
bearing  a  Punic  inscription  written  in  black  ink, 
in  which  could  be  deciphered  the  name  Abd- 
Melkart,  thought  by  those  who  discovered  it  to 
belong  very  probably  to  the  corpse  who  had  been 
buried  in  this  tomb. 

In  a  single  grave,  closed  with  large  slabs  of 
stone,  with  the  usual  potteries  (two  urns,  two 
phials,  a  lamp  and  its  patera),  a  small  cauldron, 
a  little  grey  sea-pebble,  some  bits  of  iron,  lead  and 
bronze,  together  with  some  bronze  fishing-hooks, 
shells  of  conic  and  elliptical  form  having  served  as 
receivers  or  even  lamps,  since  the  extremity  of  one 
had  become  blackened  by  the  action  of  fire ;  a 
grinding-stone  ;  and  lastly,  the  chased  bezel  of  a 
ring  encircled  in  gold,  being  a  cornelian  in  the  form 
of  a  scarabaeus,  of  which  the  flat  side  bore  the 
engraving  of  an  upright  figure,  draped  in  a  simple 
cloth  or  klaft,  and  wearing  a  high  conical  cap. 
This  tomb  must  have,  no  doubt,  enclosed  the 
remains  of  a  Carthaginian  fisherman. 

Another  simple  grave  closed  by  large  slabs  of 
stone  was  opened  in   February  1895.      Near   the 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUIMES     33 

head  of  the  skeleton,  besides  the  lamp  and  its 
patera,  were  found  two  phials  and  three  urns  of 
medium  size  and  two  terra  cotta  masks.  Each  one 
was  provided  with  a  hole  above,  to  enable  them  to 
be  suspended,  notwithstanding  they  never  had  been 
suspended  in  this  tomb.  The  faces  of  these  masks 
were  slightly  smiling  in  expression,  the  neck 
flattened  and  dotted  alternately  with  red  and 
blue.  Traces  of  the  same  colour  appeared  in  the 
hair  and  head-dress,  which  terminated,  Egyptian 
fashion,  in  two  flat  bands,  slightly  accentuated, 
falling  perpendicularly  each  side  of  the  face  and 
neck.  At  the  feet  of  the  skeleton  were  gathered 
up  some  broken  fragments  of  ostrich  eggshell,  on 
which  were  painted  the  features  of  a  face,  some  red 
lead  or  vermilion  in  fairly  large  quantities,  and 
about  a  hundred  necklace  beads,  among  which  were 
a  good  number  of  amulets  representing  well-known 
subjects. 

The  foregoing  is  a  description  fairly  representa- 
tive of  the  tombs  found  in  this  particular  cemetery, 
being  typical  of  the  oldest-known  forms  of  Punic 
sepulture.  In  every  case  the  grave  is  found  at  a 
depth  of  about  twenty  to  thirty  feet,  below  the 
accumulated  soil  of  subsequent  upheavals,  dug  out 
of  the  primitive  clay  and  covered  with  the  simple 
slabs  of  tufa,  the  only  indigenous  stone  belonging 
to  the  place.  The  absence  of  a  Greek  influence 
and  the  constant  presence  of  an  Egyptian  char- 
acter in  the  works  and  objects  of  art  found  in  the 
tombs  is  likewise  distinctive  of  this  period,  as  also 
is    the   absence    of  cremation,  and  almost  entire 

c 


34    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

presence  of  inhumation.  But  of  the  work- 
manship found  in  all  the  tombs  the  only 
two  objects  which  may  be  pointed  to  with  any 
certainty  as  belonging  exclusively  to  Punic  art 
and  invention,  are  the  curious  amphorae  which 
terminate  in  stems  at  the  base,  instead  of  the 
usual  inverted  cone,  and  the  very  primitive  clay 
lamp  which,  often  blackened  by  the  flame,  and  in 
many  cases  still  preserving  its  wick,  offers  a  perfect 
example  of  the  archetype  of  the  lamps  of  all  later 
ages.  Originally  copied  from  the  natural  form  of 
a  shell,  it  consisted  of  a  simple  plate  or  disc  of  red 
earth,  with  usually  a  yellowish  covering.  Half  the 
circumference  of  this  disc  was  pinched  back  in 
three  places,  thus  leaving  two  beaks  for  the  wick. 
This  type  of  lamp  has  not  till  lately  been  found 
at  Carthage,  nor  indeed  throughout  the  whole  of 
Africa,  but  has  been  met  with  in  the  Phoenician 
necropoleis  of  Sardinia,  and  also  at  Saida  (ancient 
Sidon)  from  the  magnificent  sepulchre  of  King 
Tabnite,  the  father  of  Achmounazar.  Curiously 
the  same  primitive  form  of  lamp  still  survives  and 
is  used  to-day  by  the  peasants  of  Malta  and  Gozzo, 
and  by  the  Arabs  of  Tunis,  the  latter  improving  on 
the  original  model  by  adding  a  stem  and  foot  to 
heighten  it. 

To  leave  the  most  simple  form  of  lamp  in 
order  to  deal  with  the  most  complicated  found 
in  Carthage,  may  appear  to  be  an  unscientific 
manner  of  dealing  with  the  results  of  the  excava- 
tions, but  the  Greek  and  Roman  types  are  so  well 
known,   and    examples    of   them   abound   in   the 


THE  NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUlMES     35 

museums,  that  practically  any  time  spent  on  them 
is  so  much  taken  away  from  the  more  important, 
because  less  widely  known,  Punic  types. 

The  following  strange  piece  is  therefore  offered 
for  contemplation. 

Imagine,  then,  seven  little  cups  of  goblet  form,  of 
grey  earthenware,  fixed  on  to  a  hollow  horizontal 
cylinder,  with  which  they  communicate.  The 
cylinder  rests  on  a  slightly  conic  base,  and  from 
the  midst  of  this  rises,  in  front,  the  head  of  a  cow 
with  fine  long  horns.  This  head  is  likewise  pierced 
with  a  hole,  communicating  with  the  cylinder,  and 
is  itself  surmounted  by  a  head  of  the  Egyptian 
goddess,  Isis-Hathor.  The  first  impression  given 
by  this  piece  of  pottery  is  that  of  a  seven-branched 
candlestick,  and  it  has  been  thought  that  the 
goblets  served  to  hold  wicks  made  from  the  pith  of 
elder-trees  which  were  fed  by  the  oil  contained  in 
the  cylinder,  and  that  a  cork  or  stopper  of  some 
kind  prevented  it  from  escaping  through  the  orifice 
of  the  cow's  head.  A  drawing  of  this  strange  lamp 
submitted  to  the  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et 
Belles  Lettres  drew  forth  the  following  observations 
from  M.  Maspero. 

"  The  object  in  question,"  he  says,  "  reminded 
me  immediately  of  the  plates  covered  with  little 
cups  which  are  met  with  rather  frequently  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Egyptian  tombs.  They  are 
found  arranged  six  or  eight  on  two  lines,  nine  on 
three  lines,  and  seven  on  one  line.  They  are  all 
arranged  on  one  flat  rectangular  support  and  do 
not  communicate  with  each  other.  They  affect 
different  forms  according  to  the  epochs  to  which 


36     CARTHAGE  OF   THE   PHOENICIANS 

they  belong,  some  being  small  open  goblets,  some 
again  rotund  little  vases,  and  only  one  tubular  or  of 
the  phial  shape  analogous  to  our  present  specimen. 
They  served  as  goblets  of  offering,  to  receive  the 
liquids  and  cakes  presented  to  the  dead  and  to  the 
gods,  and  especially  the  canonical  oils  to  the 
number  of  seven,  or  nine  more  usually,  but  which 
could  be  reduced  by  facultative  omission  to  eight 
and  six  or  even  four  or  two.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  Carthaginian  specimen  is  a  fairly  faithful  copy 
of  a  service  of  goblets  of  this  kind."  {Comptes 
rendus  des  seances  12  Juillet^   i^QSO 

By  the  side  of  this,  it  is  interesting  to  read  the 
remarks  offered  by  the  Reverend  Pere  Delattre,  the 
finder  of  the  terra  cotta  in  question  : — 

"An  analogous  piece  has  been  found  in  Sardinia  ; 
I  find  it  in  the  illustrated  catalogue  of  the  collec- 
tion of  Sardinian  antiquities  of  Raimond  Chessa, 
printed  in  Cagliari  in  1868.  The  drawing  given  of 
it  seems  to  indicate,  on  the  support,  a  flat  and 
hollow  disc  communicating  with  the  seven  beaks 
and  with  a  ram's  head,  pierced  no  doubt  like  the 
cow's  head  of  our  vase.  Here  is  the  description 
of  it  given  by  Vincent  Crespi,  the  author  of  the 
catalogue. 

"  *  The  vase  I  am  about  to  describe,' "  he  says, 
"  *  is  one  of  those  objects  whose  singularity  of  form 
makes  it  difficult  to  describe  at  first  sight.  In  fact 
it  represents  a  sort  of  lamp  with  seven  perpendicu- 
lar branches,  similar  to  the  orifice  or  upper  part  of 
a  vase  of  any  sort  in  the  shape  of  a  bottle,  disposed 
in  a  circle  commenced  and  terminated  by  a  ram's 
head,  and  upheld  by  a  base  about  O'lo  m^tre  in 


PUNIC   MASK,   SIXTH   CENTURY  {Douimcs) 


\See  p.  40. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUIMES     37 

height.  I  cannot  for  certain  affirm  this  object  to 
be  actually  a  lamp,  but  in  the  case  of  its  being  one 
it  would  probably  be  symbolic,  or  even  magical  in 
character,  not  only  because  it  is  a  many-branched 
lamp,  of  which  type  we  have  discovered  several,  but 
on  account  of  that  number  of  branches  so  often 
found  in  Egyptian  monuments  to  indicate  the  seven 
planets.' 

"Admitting  this  conjecture,  the  ram's  head 
placed  among  the  branches  would  represent 
Jupiter  Ammon,  the  supreme  divinity,  and  the 
seven  branches  represented  the  seven  planets,  to 
whom  the  lamp  was  dedicated,  possibly,  in 
accordance  with  the  beliefs  of  the  ancients,  to 
draw  down  the  rain  to  their  fields  and  procure  for 
the  earth  a  happy  fecundity." 

The  Tyrians  who  founded  Carthage  had 
borrowed  first  from  Egypt,  then  from  Chaldaea 
and  Assyria,  the  products  of  their  art  and  industry 
in  order  to  trade  with  these  goods,  not  only  in  the 
isles  and  on  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean,  but 
even  in  Gaul  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Seine  and 
the  Rhine. 

It  is  easy  to  recognize  in  the  specimens  preserved 
to-day  at  Carthage  these  diverse  influences.  Here 
are  figurines  of  Chaldaean  type,  there,  masks  and 
amulets,  coming  from  Egypt,  or  else  manufactured 
on  the  spot  by  means  of  moulds  brought  from 
Egypt.  Later  on — that  is  to  say,  towards  the  sixth 
or  fifth  century  B.C. — Carthage  witnessed  the  un- 
loading on  her  quays  of  quantities  of  Greek  vases 
and  other  pottery.  There  are  found,  in  fact,  in 
various  parts  of  the  ancient  city  numerous  vases  of 


38      CARTHAGE    OF   THE   PHOENICIANS 

Hellenic  fabrication.  The  clay  of  these  vases  is  of 
a  pale  red,  frequently  covered  with  a  beautiful 
black  varnish.  Many  of  the  Greek  terra  cotta 
lamps  bear  Punic  graffiti,  which  proves  their  use 
and  importation  to  have  belonged  to  the  Car- 
thaginian era.  Some  of  them  are  unvarnished, 
and  to  facilitate  their  sale  in  the  Carthaginian 
markets  these  lamps  were  at  times  appropriated  to 
the  cult  most  in  honour  in  the  Punic  city.  It  is 
thus  that  we  find  one  of  them  bearing  the  emblem 
of  Tanith,  that  is  to  say,  a  triangle  surmounted  by 
a  horizontal  bar  and  disc. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  masks  recovered  from  the  Punic  tombs  of 
Doufmes    are    not    the    least    interesting    of    the 
treasures  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  St.  Louis  of 
Carthage.     The  most  striking  perhaps  of  any   as 
yet  discovered  is  a  large  grotesque  in  terra  cotta 
which  came  to  light  in  September  1893.     It  would 
seem  to  be  one  of  those  rare  specimens  of  Punic  art 
and   handicraft   which   are  being  sought  for  very 
naturally  with  so  much  more  avidity  than  the  well- 
known  Greek,  Roman  or  Egyptian  types.     It  is, 
moreover,  peculiarly  hideous,  having  a  low  narrow 
forehead,  large   flat  nose,  protruding  cheek-bones 
and   wry   mouth,  retaining  traces  of  black   paint. 
The  mouth  and  eyes  are  formed  by  cutting  out  the 
clay  to  leave  the  necessary  spaces.     The  ears  are 
decorated  with  earrings,  while  round  the  edge  are 
distributed   five  holes,  one  at  the  top,  one  above 
each   ear  and  one  below.     Absolutely  nothing  of 
Greek  or  Egyptian  is   here   either   in  conception 
or  handling.     In  fact,  it  bears  the  hall-mark  of  its 
Punic   origin   at   the   base  of  the    forehead    and 
commencement  of  the  nose,  in  the  clearly-defined 
crescent  surmounting  the  disc  which  it  encloses  in 
its  abased  points,  an  emblem   whose   significance 
has  already  been  dwelt  upon  in  the  foregoing  pages, 

39 


40     CARTHAGE    OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

and  one  which  appears  constantly,  either  on 
votive  stelae  at  Carthage,  or  engraved  on  the  bezel 
of  rings,  or  again  fashioned  as  an  amulet  and 
threaded  on  to  a  necklace.  This  mask  changes 
expression  curiously,  according  as  it  is  viewed  at  full 
face,  three  quarters,  or  profile. 

Many  of  the  masks  collected  and  preserved  in 
the  Museum  of  St.  Louis  recall  the  art  of  Japan 
rather  than  that  of  the  Mediterranean,  on  account 
of  the  extraordinary  realism  with  which  they  are 
executed.  Another  mask  similar  in  character 
was  procured  in  Mesopotamia  by  M.  Charles 
Texier,  and  eventually  given  to  the  Louvre,  where 
reposes  also  a  Punic  mask  from  Carthage,  and 
several  identical  specimens  found  in  Sardinia  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  very  interesting  collection  at 
Cagliari,  whose  Museum  of  Antiquities  has  perhaps 
more  in  common  with  that  of  Carthage  than  any 
other  in  existence. 

Another  extremely  interesting  mask,  oval  in 
shape,  has  neither  beard  nor  moustache,  but  close 
side  whiskers  are  indicated  by  a  double  hollowed 
line  running  from  the  eyebrows  to  the  lower  part 
of  the  jaw,  leaving  the  centre  of  the  chin  bare. 
The  hair  is  represented  as  crisply  curled,  and  the 
eyes  are  slightly  obliquely  set  in  the  head,  inclining 
towards  the  nose.  The  pupils  and  the  eyelashes 
are  painted  black  and  the  eyeballs  white.  The 
skin  of  the  face  is  indicated  by  a  strong  red 
colouring.  But  that  which  renders  the  mask  of 
peculiar  value  is  that  it  preserves  the  bronze  earrings 
and  the  silver  nose-ring  or  nezem  with  which  it  was 
ornamented  when  originally  placed  in  the  tomb. 


THE    NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUlMES    41 

Untilthis  last  was  foundtheprevailing  belief  was  that 
nose-rings  were  relegated  to  the  toilet  of  women  only, 
but  this  whiskered  mask  proves  very  conclusively  that 
they  were,  at  one  time  at  least,  worn  by  men  also. 
Another  quite  small  and  bearded  mask  was  of 
silver,  and  yet  another  in  red  earth  and  an  identical 
one  in  grey  earth  are  wholly  Egyptian  in  character. 
But  the  varied  types  of  masks  are  not  thus 
exhausted,  for  yet  another  comes  to  light,  formed 
by  a  disc  cut  from  an  ostrich  shell  and  painted 
with  features.  This  disc  form  recalls  another  in 
granite  in  which  eyes,  nose  and  mouth  are  rudely 
cut,  and  it  is  thought  they  were  meant  to  represent 
the  goddess  Tanith,  or  the  full  moon. 

We  may  now  notice  a  particular  and  special  find 
which  is  more  prized  than  any  other  treasure  trove 
gathered  from  the  soil  of  Carthage,  namely,  the 
curious  and  interesting  hatchet  razors  which  up 
till  now  have  not  revealed  themselves  in  identical 
form  in  any  other  part  of  the  globe.  True  there  may 
be  seen  in  the  British  Museum,  among  the  Egyptian 
tools  and  bronze  implements,  the  broken  portion  of 
a  very  large  bronze  razor,  similar  in  form  though 
not  in  size,  and  devoid  of  engraving ;  and  in  the 
Natural  History  Museum  of  Bordeaux  may  be 
seen  a  broken  and  oxydized  fragment  hailing  from 
Sayes  near  Arg^les  in  the  Hautes  Pyrdn^es,  which 
is  labelled  "  Hache  ciseau  en  bronze."  When  we 
remember  that  among  the  ancients  the  Phoenicians 
were  the  miners  par  excellence  and  that  the  Romans 
and  Greeks  frequently  hired  them  or  paid  them  to 
work  mines  for  them,  and  that  to-day  the  Pyr^n^es 


42     CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

abound  in  mines  worked  and  shafts  sunk  by  the 
ancients,  then  it  is  not  an  unreasonable  suggestion 
that  the  green  flaky  morsel  at  Bordeaux  may  claim 
relationship  to  the  beautiful  specimen  found  to-day 
in  the  Punic  tombs  of  Carthage. 

While  the  most  beautiful,  perfect  and  engraved 
specimens  are  found  in  the  Necropoleis  of  St. 
Louis  and  Bord-el-Djedid,  and  therefore  to  be 
noticed  later  on  more  fully,  it  is  necessary  here  to 
mention  that  though  they  are  rarely  engraved 
when  found  in  the  cemetery  at  present  described, 
namely,  that  of  Douimes,  yet  they  are  found  to- 
gether with  the  rest  of  the  charms  and  objects  of 
ornament  and  necessity  disposed  at  the  side  of  the 
earliest  Carthaginians  in  their  tombs  :  for  like  our 
Neolithic  friend  now  residing  in  Bloomsbury,  the 
earliest  inhabitants  of  the  "Kirjath  Hadeschath" 
or  "  New  City,"  the  Tarshish  of  Ezekiel,  were  laid 
simply  down  to  rest  in  their  scooped-out  graves — 
though  it  is  true  they  lay  flat  on  their  backs — 
were  supplied  with  nourishment  placed  in  jars 
which  surrounded  them,  weapons  occasionally,  but 
very,  very  rarely,  for  the  early  Carthaginian  was  no 
warrior;  and,  above  all,  charms  and  talismans  of 
every  possible  description  to  help  them  in  their 
hour  of  need,  when  they  came  face  to  face  with 
the  unseen  daemons  of  the  under-world.  Finally 
the  grave  was  closed  with  unworked  slabs  of 
tufa  after  the  primitive  bicorn  lamp  had  been 
filled,  lit  and  left  to  burn  itself  out.  Traces  of 
dried  milk  in  one  vase,  the  skeleton  of  a  quail  in 
another,  residue  of  wine  in  a  third,  and  the  little 


THE  NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUIMES     43 

lamps  still  preserving  the  charred  remains  of  their 
wicks,  all  testify  to  the  prevailing  religion  of  fear 
for  the  life  to  come. 

The  presence  of  the  razors,  however,  opens  out 
quite  another  branch  of  speculation.  That  the 
barber,  like  the  midwife,  has  fallen  on  evil  days  is 
clear,  when  we  remember  that  "  the  holy  barber's 
work  "  was  so  utterly  sacred  as  to  be  solemnized  by 
a  religious  ceremony  even  as  late  as  the  days  of  St. 
Paul,  and  that  as  we  go  back  in  time  to  search  the 
origins  of  this  mystic  calling,  we  not  only  find 
votive  offerings  of  sacred  barbers  and  tonsures 
composing  part  of  the  personnel  of  the  temple  of 
Astarte,  but  if  we  look  to  the  hieroglyphic  symbols 
Neter^  signifying  gods,  we  find  them  to  resemble 
fleams  or  razors  more  than  they  resemble  anything 
else.  This  is  not  the  place,  however,  to  indulge  in 
a  dissertation  on  the  gradual  decline  and  fall  in 
dignity  of  the  barbers'  profession,  from  the  time  when 
it  was  wholly  set  apart  to  the  sanctified  administra- 
tion of  the  hierophants  till  only  a  hundred  years 
ago  in  this  country,  before  the  incorporation  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons  by  Royal  Charter, 
when  the  Barber  Surgeons  of  England  were  per- 
sons of  distinct  importance  and  dignity,  and  con- 
tinually rewarded  for  their  services  by  the  honour 
of  knighthood.  One  is  reminded  of  another 
neglected  profession  mentioned  further  back,  by 
the  French  rather  than  the  English  name  of  the 
practitioner,  for  so  hard  is  the  death  of  a  once 
living  idea  that  it  will  often  shed  an  afterglow 
across  the  space  of  time  in  names  and  symbols 
whose  meaning  has  long  been  forgotten. 


44     CARTHAGE   OF   THE   PHCENICIANS 

It  requires  an  effort  of  reconstructive  imagina- 
tion to  recognize  in  the  Sage  Femme  of  to-day  that 
dread  Wise  Woman,  or  Witch,  who  in  the  far  past 
was  wont  to  preside  at  the  advent  of  the  sons  of 
Adam.  In  a  picture  of  realistic  writing,  painting 
the  obscure  indignity  which  has  overtaken  these 
two  professions,  a  curious  unconscious  irony  is 
shown  in  making  Mrs.  Gamp  to  dwell  over  a 
barber's  shop. 

If  modern  biologists  declare  generation  to  be 
the  fairyland  of  physiology,  how  much  more  must 
the  mystery  of  Birth  and  Life  and  Death  have 
impressed  the  mind  and  soul  of  the  Ancient 
World. 

But  as  concerning  the  presence  of  these  curious 
hatchet  razors  beside  the  corpses,  the  last  word  has 
yet  to  be  said.  They  are  by  no  means  most  plentiful 
in  the  oldest  cemetery  of  DouTmes,  indeed  by  far 
the  most  beautiful  specimens  have  been  found  in 
the  graves  of  Bord-el-Djedid,  but  that  they  are  not 
obsolete  and  extinct  in  the  present  day  is  testified 
by  missionaries  to  Equatorial  Africa,  who  have 
supplied  specimens  of  razors  used  by  the  negroes 
of  Tanganyika,  and  which,  placed  side  by  side  with 
the  Punic  razors,  show  too  strong  a  resemblance 
to  admit  of  any  doubt  as  to  their  affinity. 

Usually  of  bronze,  they  are  occasionally  found  to 
be  of  pure  copper  when  submitted  to  the  chemical 
analysis,  necessary  in  their  oxidized  state,  to  dis- 
tinguish the  one  metal  from  the  other. 

The  amulets  and  charms  may  next  be  noticed. 
These  are  so  plentiful  as  to  render  enumeration 
more  wearisome  and  less  effective  than  illustration, 


PUNIC  NECKLACE   (St  Louis) 


[Seep.  62. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUIMES     45 

but  that  the  Carthaginian  taste  was  eclectic  both 
as  to  material  and  subject  may  be  concluded  when 
we  observe  that  they  employed  such  a  variety  as 
gold,  silver,  lead,  ivory,  ebony,  lava,  jasper,  corne- 
lian, emerald,  mother  of  pearl,  enamel,  agate,  lapis 
lazuli  and  coloured  glass  of  many  kinds,  to  form 
such  shapes  as  the  gods  and  goddesses  Osiris, 
Phthah,  Bes,  Horus,  Anubis,  Ra,  Isis,  Astarte,  BaM- 
Moloch,  Tanith,  the  urseus,  the  cynocephalus,  the 
scarabaeus,  the  oudjah  or  mystic  eye  of  Osiris,  etc., 
etc.,  etc.  These  were  usually  strung  together  on  a 
thread  and  hung  around  the  neck  of  the  corpse  as 
an  array  of  magic  charms  to  keep  off  harm  from  the 
helpless  body  and  disembodied  soul. 

A  small  figurine  shows  the  god  Bes  grotesquely 
squatting,  with  his  feet  resting  on  two  crocodiles, 
holding  in  his  hands  the  tails  of  two  lions.  The 
reverse  of  this  statuette  bears  an  Egyptian  inscrip- 
tion arranged  in  four  vertical  columns  of  hiero- 
glyphic signs,  being  evidently  one  of  those  magic 
formulae  to  'which  the  ancients  attached  a  super- 
stitious influence,  capable  of  preserving  them  from 
the  peril  of  harmful  beasts  of  prey,  and  intended  to 
be  worn  as  a  talisman. 

Of  the  very  numerous  scarabaei  found  in  the 
graves,  one  bears  three  hieroglyphic  characters 
signifying  "  Ra  is  the  true  ichneumon,"  an  allusion 
to  the  cult  of  the  ichneumon  and  its  identification 
with  Ra. 

The  Egyptians  professed  a  religious  cult  of  the 
ichneumon,  or  Pharaoh's  rat,  the  ^^  Herpestes 
Pharaonis"  an  animal  met  with  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nyanza. 


46    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

A  second  scarabaeus  bears  the  image  of  the 
goddess  Sekhet,  crowned  with  a  disc  and  a  sceptre 
in  her  hand.  Her  name  is  written  in  front  of  her 
and  t\\z.\:o^Horotidahiti,\h.Q  magnanimous  Horus 
of  Psammetichus  of  the  twenty-sixth  Dynasty. 
This  scarabseus  is  therefore  of  value  in  determining 
the  furthest  limit  to  which  can  be  assigned  the 
age  of  the  tomb  in  which  it  was  found,  unless  we 
allow  for  the  possibility  of  the  tomb  having  been 
of  an  earlier  date,  but  used  for  the  second  time 
when  the  said  scarabaeus  was  placed  there. 

Psammetichus,  who  founded  the  twenty-sixth 
Dynasty,  was  one  of  the  twelve  kings  who  shared 
the  government  of  Egypt  at  the  death  of  Pharaoh 
Sethos,  whom  a  statue  represents  with  a  rat  in  his 
hand  and  this  inscription — "  Learn  by  my  example 
to  respect  the  gods." 

It  was  no  doubt  the  ichneumon  which  Sethos 
thus  presented  for  the  veneration  of  the  Egyptians. 

Psammetichus  reigned  from  671  to  656  B.C.  in 
the  north-west  part  of  Egypt  to  the  west  of  the 
Delta,  but  he  succeeded  in  driving  out  his  col- 
leagues and  reigning  alone  until  617  B.C.  It  is 
said  that  he  raised  temples  at  Memphis  in  honour 
of  the  bull  Apis  and  of  Phthah.  This  Pharaoh 
encouraged  foreigners  in  Egypt,  built  a  fleet  and 
attempted  the  conquest  of  Phoenicia.  The  pre- 
sence, however,  of  this  scarabaeus  in  a  sepulchre  of 
Doui'mes  does  not  establish  as  a  certainty  the  fact 
that  the  date  of  this  particular  tomb,  and  those 
immediately  surrounding  it,  could  not  go  back 
further  than  the  seventh  century  B.C.  It  is  known 
that  tombs  were  sometimes  re-used  at  later  periods. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUIMES    47 

A  third  scarabaeus  shows  the  cartouche  of 
Menkoauri  Mycerinus,  the  Mycerinos  of  Herodotus 
and  the  Mencheris  of  Manetho,  who  was  the 
founder  of  the  third  great  Pyramid  of  Gizeh  ; 
above,  the  title  Horou  noubiy  the  gilded  Horus,  the 
victorious  Horus,  and  the  goddess  Sekhet  with 
the  lion's  head,  in  the  same  pose  as  the  preceding 
example. 

Curiously,  in  the  sloping  side  of  the  ground 
called  by  the  Arab  name  of  Doufmes  was  found, 
some  twenty-two  years  ago,  together  with  some 
votive  offerings  to  Serapis,  a  marble  tablet  bearing 
the  name  of  Manetho,  the  celebrated  Egyptian 
historian  who  was  priest  to  the  above-mentioned 
divinity. 


CHAPTER    VI 

Sufficient  evidence  has  now  been  offered  to 
show  the  relationship  which  existed  between  Egypt 
and  Carthage  in  such  matters  as  manners,  reh'gion, 
and  commercial  intercourse. 

That  this  cemetery  of  Douimes  is  the  oldest  of 
the  three  groups  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  its 
forms  of  sepulture  are  characterized  by  a  simple 
grave  or  caves  constructed  with  large  stones,  that 
the  funereal  accompaniments  are  of  a  special  and 
distinct  character,  as  well  as  by  the  absence  of 
coins  and  of  cremation,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  remaining  two  necropoleis  to  be  dealt  with  are 
characterized  above  all  by  the  simultaneous  usage 
of  inhumation  and  cremation  as  well  as  the 
abundant  presence  of  coins  of  various  sizes  and 
ages.  The  oldest  necropolis  has  furnished  a 
quantity  of  hieroglyphics ;  the  least  ancient,  while 
enclosing  Egyptian  scarabaei  and  amulets,  has  not 
as  yet  yielded  a  single  hieroglyphic. 

The  terra  cotta  figurines  found  in  Doufmes  have 

besides,   an    Egyptian  or  else  a  proto-Corinthian 

stamp,  while  those  that  come  from  Bord-el-Djedid, 

on  the  contrary,  show  an  Italo-Greek  or  Etruscan 

influence. 

The  inscriptions  on  the  vases,  exceedingly  rare 
48 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUlMES    49 

in  the  first  necropolis,  become  relatively  numerous 
in  the  second,  the  latter  having  yielded,  among 
others,  an  Etruscan  inscription,  the  first  which  has 
been  found  in  Carthage. 

It  must  be,  however,  stated  that  there  have 
occurred  very  rare  exceptions  in  the  mode  of 
disposing  of  the  corpse  in  the  earliest  tombs. 
Occasionally  a  rude  and  huge  monolithic 
sarcophagus  has  been  met  with — and,  in  one  or 
two  instances  only,  little  stone  coffers  containing 
calcined  bones  have  told  that  cremation  was  not 
unknown,  though  so  rarely  practised  by  this  branch 
of  the  Semitic  family. 

Turning  to  the  pottery  of  Doufmes  we  are 
reminded  of  the  remark  of  the  Abbd  Cochet,  the 
learned  archaeologist  of  Normandy,  who  wrote 
somewhere,  "  Pottery  is  the  most  valuable  trace  of 
the  passage  of  humanity  on  this  earth." 

Here  it  is  scarce  in  variety,  for  beyond  the 
primitive  types  invariably  found  accompanying 
the  rudimentary  lamp  and  its  patera,  there  is  little 
to  be  noted  besides  the  occasional  appearance  of 
alabaster  vases  and  flasks  of  coloured  glass,  some- 
times of  considerable  beauty  in  colour  if  not  in 
form,  and  resembling  those  beautiful  examples  of 
which  we  are  given  such  excellent  illustrations  in 
the  volume  dealing  with  Phoenicia,  of  Mons. 
Perrott's  monumental  work  LHistoire  de  CArt 
dans  VAntiquiU.  One  example  is  a  perfume 
flask  in  black  glass,  on  which  have  been  incrusted 
some  lines  of  white  vitreous  material.  These  lines 
towards  the  neck  of  the  phial  form  parallel 
horizontal  circles,  then,  nearing  the  centre,  they 

D 


so     CARTHAGE  OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

describe  undulating  lines,  and  finally,  lower  down, 
they  become  unequally  zigzagged.  This  phial 
reveals  great  skill  in  the  manipulation  of  glass  in 
fusion. 

Painted  and  enamelled  specimens  of  terra  cotta 
vases  have  been  met  with,  though  indeed  there  is 
nothing  found  here  corresponding  to  the  number 
and  variety  in  the  later  cemeteries. 

One  somewhat  remarkable  terra  cotta  example 
has  a  spirited  picture  in  which  figures  a  warrior 
with  a  long  lance  and  round  buckler,  another 
figure  on  horseback,  and  several  women  carrying 
urns  on  their  heads.  The  lower  point  of  attach- 
ment of  the  handle  is  formed  of  two  serpents 
between  which  appears  the  eastern  palm  imitating 
a  shell;  probably  the  archetype  of  the  Greek 
palmette,  which  appears  so  frequently  in  Hellenic 
ceramics. 

Mons.  Heron  de  Villefosse  gives  the  following 
interpretation  of  the  painting  : — 

"A  vase,  with  black  figures,  and  of  the  form 
known  as  olpe. 

"  The  handle,  somewhat  heavy  in  appearance,  is 
decorated  at  the  base  by  two  serpents  separated 
by  a  half-rosette.  The  picture  which  ornaments 
the  body  of  the  vase  depicts  the  episode  of  Achilles 
and  Troilos. 

"  On  the  left  Achilles,  helmeted,  bears  a  round 
buckler  on  the  left  arm,  and  armed  with  a  lance 
advances  in  a  spirited  manner  towards  the  right, 
passing  in  front  of  the  basin  which  receives  the 
water  from  the  fountain,  behind  which  he  was  in 
ambuscade.     Polyxena  upright,  draped,  her  arms 


GILDED   BRONZE  VASE   (67.  Louis) 


[Seep.  88. 


THE   NECROPOLIS  OF   DOUIMES     51 

bare,  turns  her  head  in  his  direction.  Behind  her 
the  young  Troilos  on  horseback,  beardless,  and  with 
his  hair  falling  on  his  back,  advances  tranquilly  un- 
armed. He  occupies  the  centre  of  the  composition, 
of  which  the  right  is  composed  of  the  three  figures 
of  the  young  women,  companions  of  Polyxena, 
draped,  with  bare  arms  and  each  one  bearing  an 
amphora  on  her  head.  The  first  of  these  upholds  the 
amphora  with  her  right  hand,  and  turns  towards 
her  companions  making  a  gesture  of  fear.  The 
second  holds  the  amphora  with  her  left  hand,  and 
shares  the  fright  of  the  first.  The  third  seems  less 
impressed.  The  dresses  of  these  women  are 
decorated  with  different  ornaments.  This  little 
picture  is  framed  on  the  left  by  a  trellis,  on  the 
right  by  Greek  keys ;  above,  by  a  line  of  rosettes 
which  surround  the  neck  of  the  vase,  and  below  by 
another  line  of  larger  rosettes  which  go  round  the 
body  of  the  vase. 

There  is,  however,  as  far  as  variety  goes,  nothing 
resembling  the  number  of  forms  met  with  in  the  later 
cemetery  of  Bord-el-Djedid. 

Rings. — The  pattern  of  rings  here  is  invariably 
the  same,  being  really  crescentiform,  thick,  and 
rounded  in  the  centre,  but  tapering  towards  the 
■two  ends  which  meet  the  bezel  formed  by  a  seal 
inscribed  like  an  Egyptian  scarabaeus.  These 
rings  are  severally  of  gold,  silver,  or  bronze. 

Inscriptions. — The  inscriptions  unearthed  from 
the  soil  of  Doui'mes  are  three  in  kind,  being  Punic, 
Hieroglyphic,  and  Greek.  The  Punic  characters 
which  Plautus  was  fond  of  introducing  among  his 
Latin  text,  and  which  for  generations  had  puzzled 


52     CARTHAGE   OF   THE   PHOENICIANS 

students  of  his  plays,  proved  no  more  potent  than 
the  hieroglyphic  and  cuneiform  symbols  when  time 
brought  forth  the  intellect  destined  to  conquer 
them.  It  is  true  there  remains  much  ground  to  be 
won  yet,  but  long  inscriptions  are  now  deciphered 
with  confidence  as  to  their  accuracy,  and  when  we 
come  to  the  results  of  the  excavations  in  the  third 
Punic  Cemetery  we  shall  find  how  much  light  such 
inscriptions  are  able  to  throw  on  the  Punic  origins 
of  Carthage. 

Meanwhile  in  the  older  tombs  the  friends  of  the 
bereaved  troubled  themselves  less  to  write  long 
inscriptions,  than  to  see  that  the  defunct  was  sup- 
plied with  a  fair  number  of  charms  and  images  to 
ward  off  evil  spirits,  and  a  good  supply  of  provisions 
and  light  to  help  and  sustain  him  on  his  dread 
journey. 

We  have  already  noticed  a  statue  of  the  god 
Bes  with  a  hieroglyphic  inscription  of  magical 
value  engraved  on  its  back — and  it  was  probable 
that  the  reasons  which  made  general  the  adop- 
tion of  Egyptian  art  also  influenced  the  use  of 
hieroglyphic  symbols  for  the  purpose  of  writing. 

However,  specimens  of  the  Punic  character  do 
occur,  one  instance  being  the  appearance  on  the 
handle  of  an  amphora  of  the  potter's  mark  and  his 
name  "  Magon,"  a  name  which  curiously  appears 
very  frequently  in  Greek  character  MAPllN  on 
the  terra  cotta  vases  and  pottery  found  here. 
Another  is  a  Punic  epitaph  graven  on  bluish  stone 
(saoun).  The  text  commences  with  these  words, 
"  Tomb  of  Barmelqart "  (perhaps  identical  with 
Bodmelqart).     Then  the  name  of  the   defunct  is 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   DOUIMES    53 

followed  by  his  genealogy,  in  which  the  proper 
names  are  accompanied  by  words  (titles  or  pro- 
fessions), which  it  was  not  found  possible  to 
decipher.  An  analogous  epitaph  came  from  the 
tomb  of  an  iron  founder  named  Akbarinty  the  son 
of  Badlshillic. 

Neither  of  them  is  so  long  as  the  one  mentioned 
earlier  as  coming  from  the  grave  of  one  ladmeleky 
son  of  Padai,  and  invoking  the  strange  conjunction 
of  the  names  Astarte  and  Pygmalion.  This 
inscription,  written  in  microscopic  characters,  is 
pronounced  by  the  learned  epigraphist,  Mons. 
Philippe  Berger,  to  be  archaic  and  presenting  no 
trace  of  the  transformation  to  which  the  Phoenician 
alphabet  was  subjected  at  the  Persian  epoch,  and 
that  it  belonged  to  the  fifth  or  sixth  century  B.C. 
It  was  in  fact  not  only  the  first  archaic  inscription 
of  Africa,  but  beyond  all  doubt  one  of  the  most 
ancient  Phoenician  inscriptions  as  yet  discovered. 

Carthage  being  the  point  of  departure  of  those 
great  commercial  currents  which  were  the  out- 
come of  the  indefatigable  Punic  enterprise,  it  is 
not  surprising  to  find,  even  at  this  early  epoch,  the 
presence  of  art  and  workmanship  hailing  from 
many  another  Mediterranean  seaport,  but  if 
they  had  a  preference  for  one  kind  of  pottery 
more  than  another  it  would  seem  to  have  been 
that  which  was  shipped  from  the  fragrant  Isle  of 
Rhodes. 

Over  and  over  again,  not  only  on  the  intact 
specimens  but  among  the  debris  and  on  the  broken 
potsherds  is  met,  together  with  the  potter's  name, 
the  hall-mark  of  a  rose,  the  emblem  of  that  isle 


54     CARTHAGE   OF   THE   PHOENICIANS 

which  took  its  name  from  the  number,  beauty  and 
fragrance  of  the  roses  which  its  soil  produced. 

Two  broken  handles  of  Rhodian  vases,  together 
with  the  rose,  are  inscribed  as  follows  : — 

The  first  bears  API2T0KAETE,  and  the  other 
Eni  AAMAINETOT  AFPIANIOT,  and  a  third,  com- 
posing three  lines  of  characters,  of  which  the  last 
only  is  completely  legible,  reads  thus  : — 

Em  A////////A 
T0I//////////ET2 
©ESMO^OPIOT 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  mention  an 
interesting  find  in  Spain  communicated  to  the 
Academie  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles  Lettres,  of 
which  they  give  the  following  notice  in  the  official 
journal  of  January  1904  : — 

"  M.  Berger  communicates  on  behalf  of  the  Rev. 
Pere  Delattre,  a  Phoenician  inscription  from  Spain. 
It  was  found  at  Villaricos  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Almanazora  to  the  south  of  Carthagena,  by  M. 
Siret,  Directing  Engineer  of  the  Iron  Mines.  Of 
late  years  various  Punic  antiquities  have  been 
found  in  Spain,  notably  the  famous  bust  from 
Elche,  to-day  in  the  Louvre,  but  it  is  the  first  time 
that  a  Punic  inscription  has  'been  found  there. 

"  It  is  a  funereal  stela  bearing  the  words,  Tomb 
of  Abdmelgart  son  of  Badlpilles!' 

Before  leaving  the  cemetery  of  Douimes  to  enter 
into  a  description  of  that  known  as  the  Ndcropole 
de  St.  Louis,  we  may  subjoin  here  an  interesting 
notice  on  the  auriferous  sand  of  Carthage,  which, 
though  it   leaves   unsolved   the   enigma   which  is 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  DOUIMES     55 

propounded,  yet  opens  up  an  interesting  specula- 
tion on  the  subject  of  the  jewellery  used  by  the 
ancient  Carthaginians  and  found  to-day  in  their 
tombs.  It  is  a  communication  from  the  learned 
Chaplain  of  St.  Louis,  for  which  the  present  writer 
is  indebted,  being  an  extract  from  those  of  his 
valuable  writings,  which  are,  unfortunately,  out  of 
print.  He  says,  "  The  sand  of  the  sea  at  Carthage 
has  passed  for  a  long  time  as  auriferous.  In  1835 
Bureau  de  la  Malle  published  as  an  appendix  in 
his  Researches  on  the  Topography  of  Carthage,  p.  249, 
a  notice  by  M.  Dusgate  thus  worded  : — 

" '  I  will  here  relate  a  curious  fact,  and  one  of 
which  no  traveller  to  my  knowledge  has  made 
mention  up  to  the  present :  the  precious  metal 
which  the  Carthaginians  used  to  search  for  in 
the  mines  of  Spain  is  found  mixed  with  the  sand 
which  the  tides  of  the  sea  heap  upon  the  shores 
where  lies  to-day  the  debris  of  their  city.  I  hold 
this  fact  to  be  of  interest  as  well  as  a  sample  of 
the  sand  from  the  late  M.  Charles  Tulin,  Swedish 
Consul,  who  informed  me  in  a  very  succinct  note, 
that  the  port  of  Carthage,  to-day  silted  up  by 
the  sand,  was  exploited  as  a  gold  mine  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  coast.  This  fact  deserved  better 
elucidation,  and  filled  me  with  a  lively  wish  to 
obtain  more  precise  details,  and  I  enlisted  Mons. 
Tulin  to  obtain  more  exact  information  from 
the  gold-searching  inhabitants  of  Douar-ech-Chott 
as  to  the  quantity  of  gold  which  the  sand  supplied 
and  as  to  the  means  used  among  them  in  order  to 
extract  it.     His  reply  left  me   nothing  to  desire, 


56     CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

and  removed  all  doubts  raised  by  the  brevity 
of  his  first  comment  on  this  singular  deposit. 
Later  on,  in  1859,  I  was  able  to  confer  personally 
with  Mons.  Bineau  during  his  stay  in  Paris,  where 
he  had  come  to  solicit  in  the  name  of  the  Bey  the 
authorization  of  the  government  to  have  constructed 
at  Toulon  a  machine  for  removing  this  same  sand 
from  the  entry  of  the  new  port  of  La  Goulette. 
The  information  which  I  received  from  this  very 
able  engineer  only  confirmed  that  which  Mons. 
Tulin  had  already  supplied,  and  from  which  it 
appeared  that  the  sand  deposited  along  the  side  of 
the  shore  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  Miliana 
(Oued  Miliane)  as  far  as  Sidi-Bou-Said,  is  more  or 
less  charged  with  gold,  of  a  sufficiently  considerable 
quantity  to  have  become  the  object  of  an  exploit- 
ation followed  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast' 

"  Such,"  says  Pere  Delattre,  "  is  the  statement 
reproduced  by  Dusgate  according  to  M.  Tulin  and 
M.  Bineau,  the  engineer  to  the  Regency.  For 
more  than  half-a-century  the  extraction  of  gold 
from  the  sand  of  the  sea  at  Carthage  would  appear 
to  have  completely  ceased,  since  I  cannot  gather 
from  the  natives  anything  more  than  a  very  vague 
recollection  of  the  existence  of  this  industry 
practised  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  century 
and  no  doubt  quickly  abandoned.  I  have,  how- 
ever, myself  had  the  opportunity  of  proving  the 
existence  of  a  certain  quantity  of  gold  in  the 
sand  of  the  sea-shore,  and  the  present  note  sums 
up  the  results  of  a  series  of  observations  made  at 
different  intervals  during  the  last  few  years. 


THE   NECROPOLIS  OF   DOUlMES     57 

"  Every  winter  when  in  the  rough  weather  the 
waves  break  with  violence,  stirring  and  washing 
up  the  sand  on  certain  parts  of  the  coast,  a  sifting 
takes  place  which  brings  to  the  surface  minute 
particles  of  gold.  I  have  succeeded  in  gathering 
up  as  much  as  nineteen  or  twenty  grammes — a 
sufficient  quantity  to  confirm  the  reality  of  the  fact 
which  has  been  stated.  The  gold  is  of  a  very  fine 
yellow.  Curious  to  relate,  this  gold  is  not  met  with 
in  the  form  of  dust,  it  is,  in  fact,  composed  of  the 
minute  debris  of  trinkets.  The  quantity  of  gold 
which  I  have  gathered  represents  nearly  three 
hundred  fragments.  The  scraps  which  preserve  a 
characteristic  form  are  globules,  bits  of  filigree, 
twisted  fringe,  small  rosettes,  sockets,  decorated 
links,  wrought  wires,  inlaid  or  open-work  pieces, 
one  of  these  being  fashioned  in  the  form  of  a 
rectangular  cartouche.  In  all  of  this  there  is  not 
the  shadow  of  a  grain  of  natural  gold  dust.  That 
is  not  to  say  that  the  sand  does  not  actually  con- 
tain any ;  but  the  gold  which  we  have  gathered  is 
worked  gold.  Among  these  fragments  of  trinkets 
we  have  found  little  cut  stones,  principally  garnets ; 
I  have  come  across  thirty  of  them,  all  belonging  to 
dislocated  ornaments." 

Up  till  this  present  moment  no  light  has  come  to 
shine  upon  this  discovery  revealing  the  true  answer 
to  the  riddle  why  the  sea  should  cast  up  fragments 
of  jewellery.  During  the  siege  of  Carthage  did 
they  possibly  cast  their  collected  treasures  into  the 
sea  to  avoid  giving  them  over  to  the  enemy  t  or 
were  these  treasures  carefully  hidden  in  the  sands 


58     CARTHAGE   OF   THE   PHOENICIANS 

of  the  sea-shore  in  some  chest  which,  once  reached 
by  the  persistent  action  of  the  waves,  succumbed 
at  last  to  their  fretting  power  and  yielded  the 
hidden  gold  and  gems  to  that  hungry  sea  which 
swallows  and  keeps  its  treasures  of  blood  and  gold 
untold,  throughout  the  ages  ? 


PART    II 

THE  NECROPOLIS  OF  ST.   LOUIS 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  discoveries  of  the  Punic  necropoleis  on  the 
chain  of  hills  rising  around  the  port  have  consider- 
ably modified  modern  conceptions  of  the  topography 
of  Carthage,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  accord 
with  the  rare  documents  of  antiquity. 

Appian  relates  how  in  the  second  Punic  war  the 
mob,  accusing  Hasdrubaal  of  treason,  and  wishing 
him  to  be  put  to  death,  made  in  a  body  for  his 
dwelling,  but  not  meeting  with  him  they  ran  to 
the  cemetery,  where  they  found  only  his  corpse. 
Fearing  the  vengeance  of  the  people,  he  had  put 
himself  to  death  in  his  father's  tomb  where  shortly 
before  he  had  taken  refuge.  This  account  seems 
to  prove  that  the  cemetery  was  near  the  city,  and 
the  fact  is  further  confirmed  by  other  details  which 
Appian  gives  in  his  account  of  this  same  war. 
When  the  envoys  from  the  Roman  Senate  tried  to 
compel  the  Carthaginians  to  abandon  their  town 
and  build  another  ten  miles  from  the  sea,  the  latter 
conjured  with  tears  the  Consuls  Manilius  and 
Censorius  to  respect  their  temples,  their  gods,  and 

59 


6o    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

their  tombs.  They  added  that  they  preferred  to 
die  rather  than  to  assist  in  the  ruin  of  their  city. 

In  this  circumstance  it  seems  that  the  Temples 
of  Carthage  could  not  be  destroyed  without  ruining 
the  cemeteries  at  the  same  time.  This  fact,  like 
the  preceding  one,  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
cemeteries  were  near  to  the  city,  and  that  to  speak 
of  one  as  far  as  the  site  was  concerned  was  equiva- 
lent to  speaking  of  the  other.  These  and  other 
testimonies  would  seem  to  indicate — nay,  to 
establish  the  fact — that  all  the  necropoleis  of  early 
Carthage  were  situated  on  the  hills  which  extend 
from  St.  Louis,  or  the  Byrsa,  to  the  region  known 
as  Bord-el-Djedid,  while  the  original  city  was  built 
near  the  sea-shore,  and  near  their  commercial 
port  at  the  foot  of  these  above-mentioned  hills, 
from  whence  it  gradually  spread  upwards  to  the 
culminating  citadel  of  the  Byrsa. 

It  is  around  the  port  that  the  architectural 
fragments  of  Punic  buildings  have  been  found,  and 
the  thousands  of  votive  stelae  dedicated  to  the 
goddess  Tanith  and  the  god  Baal  Hammon 
(examples  of  these  stelae  may  be  seen  in  the  fine 
collection  brought  from  Carthage  by  Dr.  Davis 
and  acquired  by  the  British  Museum),  while, 
except  for  the  sepulchres,  beyond  this  part  of  the 
shore,  nothing  has  been  found  belonging  to  the 
Punic  epoch  beyond  the  very  rare  occurrence  of 
stones  used  in  the  construction  of  posterior 
buildings,  which  appear  to  have  once  belonged  to 
early  constructions. 

Archaeological  excavations,  as  well  as  the 
thousands  of  holes  dug  by  the  Arabs  by  the  sea- 


CARTHAGINIAN   VASE   IN  THE   FOBM  OF  A   DOVE 


{Seep. 


CARTHAGINIAN  GOD   IN  TERRA  COTTA 


[.See  p,  110. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS    6i 

shore  to  obtain  worked  stones  for  building  purposes, 
point  to  the  conclusion  that  the  primitive  city, 
commencing  here  and  creeping  up  to  the  Byrsa, 
never  exceeded  the  limit  thus  composed  by  the 
heights  arranged  like  an  amphitheatre,  overlooking 
the  Gulf,  crowned  no  doubt  each  one  with  a  temple, 
the  hill-sides  consecrated  to  the  reception  of  the 
dead  citizens. 

However,  when  the  population  increased  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  exceed  the  possibilities  of  accom- 
modation, a  series  of  suburbs  developed  beyond  the 
city  wall,  forming  an  outer  belt  on  the  inland 
side.  These  suburbs,  enclosed  within  a  further 
wall  of  fortification,  and  included  under  the  name 
of  Magalia,  formed  a  second  city.  Servius  draws 
attention  to  this  double  appearance  of  the  town  of 
Carthage,  the  one  part  enfolding  the  other,  when  he 
says  : — Carthago  antea  speciem  habuit  duplicis 
oppidi  quasi  aliud  alterum  complecteretur^  cujus 
interior  pars  Byrsa  dicebatur  exterior  Magalia. 

Thus  the  quarter  known  as  Magalia  embraced 
that  of  Byrsa  as  in  the  emblem  of  Carthage,  the 
crescent  moon,  embraced  the  solar  disc.  Thus  the 
old  city,  like  many  a  modern  one  on  the  African 
coast  washed  by  the  Mediterranean,  was  placed  at 
the  foot  of  the  hills  and  near  the  sea  from  whence 
came  her  wealth,  and,  by  reason  of  her  peculiarly 
happy  position  in  this  Gulf  of  Tunis,  was  at  once 
sheltered  from  the  violent  and  fatiguing  winds  of 
the  North,  and  to  some  extent  from  the  oily, 
stifling  sirocco  of  the  desert. 

The  Punic  cemetery  of  the  name  of  St.  Louis, 
unearthed  on  the  hill-side  known  as   the   Byrsa, 


62    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

takes  its  own  peculiar  interest  from  the  fact  that, 
to  some  extent,  it  reveals  a  period  of  transition 
when  individual  Punic  art  and  inventiveness — 
always  identical,  whether  in  Phoenicia,  Cyprus, 
Sardinia,  or  Carthage,  and  always  demonstrated 
in  the  manipulation  of  heavy  masses,  in  the  indica- 
tions rather  of  industry  than  originality — has 
escaped  from  the  overshadowing  and  overpowering 
influence  of  Egypt  before  having  arrived  at  and 
fallen  under  in  submission  to  Greek  Art. 

In  fact,  it  seems  very  highly  probable  that  the 
two  ends  of  its  period  of  existence  as  an  employed 
cemetery  overlap  the  close  of  the  use  of  that  of 
Douimes  and  the  commencement  of  that  of 
Bord-el-Djedid. 

As  early  as  1880,  during  the  construction  of 
certain  buildings  required  in  connection  with  the 
Cathedral  and  Convent,  in  the  course  of  digging 
the  foundations,  a  very  curious  Punic  tomb  was 
met  with  on  the  south-west  side  of  the  hill,  looking 
towards  Douar-ech-Chott  and  La  Goulette. 

This  tomb,  which  on  account  of  its  monumental 
proportions  deserves  to  be  called  a  Mausoleum,  was 
built  of  large  blocks  of  tufa  arranged  in  layers.  As 
in  the  tombs  on  Juno's  hill,  no  mortar  or  cement 
had  entered  into  its  construction.  It  was  com- 
posed of  a  rectangular  chamber,  surmounted  by  a 
double  sloping  roof.  The  first  object  met  with  was 
a  Punic  collar  or  necklace,  composed  of  fifty-one 
beads  and  seven  amulets,  some  of  white  and  others 
of  green  enamel,  imitating  the  Egyptian  faience. 
Among  these  amulets  the  urcEus  is  met  with  twice 
under  the  form  of  a  viper  which,  folded  back  on 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS    63 

itself,  puffs  up  its  neck,  and  stretches  out  its  head. 
One  notices  also  the  oudjah  or  mystic  eye  of  Osiris, 
and  some  figurines  which  in  spite  of  their  minia- 
ture proportions  recall,  in  their  half-squatting 
attitude,  the  Colossus  of  Amanthus  preserved  in 
the  Imperial  Museum  of  Constantinople.  No 
doubt  these  are  representations  of  the  god  Bes, 
possibly  the  oldest  of  all  popular  grotesques  found 
in  connection  with  ancient  sepulture.  In  this 
collar,  the  amulets  which  depict  the  god  Bes  are 
invariably  double-faced. 

The  tomb  enclosed  two  skeletons  reposing  in  the 
midst  of  diverse  potteries,  lamps,  and  jars.  Twenty- 
five  is  the  number  of  terra  cottas  recovered  from 
this  grave,  in  addition  to  nine  Punic  lamps  of  the 
primitive  type  already  explained  (a  disc  of  clay 
pinched  back  in  three  places  to  form  two  beaks), 
and  one  of  these  jars  appeared  to  preserve  traces  of 
milk.  The  liquid  in  evaporating  had  left  subsisting 
to  the  surface  a  white  and  fragile  encrustation 
which  remained  like  a  spider's  web  hanging  inside 
the  jar,  another  instance  of  the  custom  of  placing 
aliments  of  various  sorts  in  the  tombs  of  the 
departed,  by  those  who  believed  their  dead  were 
about  to  make  a  long  and  trying  journey,  during 
which  they  would  require  physical  sustenance. 

The  skeletons  themselves,  though  at  first  sight 
apparently  well  preserved,  became  reduced  to  a 
humid  paste  the  moment  they  were  touched.  They 
reposed  each  one  of  them  on  two  large  slabs,  which 
themselves  closed  two  sarcophagi.  An  interval  of 
a  few  inches  existed  between  these  two  stones,  and 
permitted  the  introduction  of  the  hand  and  arm, 


64     CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

and  a  lighted  candle  introduced  into  the  aperture 
revealed  another  skeleton  in  its  primitive  position. 
Nothing  further  could  be  done  before  these  flag- 
stones were  first  carefully  cleared  of  the  deposit  of 
sand  which  had  filtered  in  and  covered  over  from 
sight  many  small  objects  in  bronze,  and  the  rotten 
remains  of  wood  which  seemed  to  suggest  the 
former  presence  of  a  coffin  of  cedar  or  Cyprus. 
This  accomplished,  the  slabs  which  constituted  the 
resting-place  for  one  skeleton  and  the  covering  of 
the  tomb  of  another  were  then  carefully  removed. 
The  grave  on  the  left  side  enclosed  a  skeleton 
whose  head  was  turned  to  the  right.  The  skull 
appeared  to  retain  sufficient  consistence  to  be 
recovered  and  preserved,  but  the  moment  it  was 
touched  it  crumbled  to  pieces  between  the  fingers. 
No  single  object  was  found  accompanying  this 
corpse,  and  the  tomb  was  closed  again  in  order  to 
open  and  examine  that  on  the  right. 

Here  likewise  the  skeleton  was  found  in  place, 
but  in  such  a  degree  of  decomposition  that  the 
bones  resembled  a  thin  sheet  of  paper  after  it  had 
been  burned  to  white  ash  without  losing  its  form. 
One  touch  therefore  sufficed  to  effisct  its  complete 
destruction. 

These  two  skeletons  were  found  at  a  depth  of 
some  twenty-eight  feet  below  the  actual  soil  of  the 
hill  of  the  Byrsa,  but  unlike  the  first,  the  second 
one  was  found  accompanied  by  a  Punic  lamp,  a 
broken  patera,  a  small  bowl  of  bone,  and  a  copper 
hatchet  razor,  all  arranged  around  the  upper  part  of 
the  body,  while  from  the  region  of  the  ")elvis  eight 
small   copper  objects  composed  of  a  ring  and  a 


DANCING  GIRL  [Bord-el-Djedid) 


ySecp.  126. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.  LOUIS    65 

biforked  plate  were  recovered,  and  would  seem  to 
have  once  formed  the  component  parts  of  a  military 
belt,  especially  as  they  were  found  together  with 
two  weapons.  The  blade  of  one  of  these  retained 
traces  of  the  wood  of  the  scabbard  which  once 
enclosed  it.  The  form  of  this  weapon  resembled 
that  of  a  poniard  or  dagger,  the  other  looked  like 
a  dart,  though  possibly  this  last  may  have  merely 
served  to  sharpen  the  first-mentioned  weapon. 

Up    till   this   present   day,  save   in  the  Isle  of 
Cyprus,   the    Phoenician    cemeteries    have    rarely  \/ 

furnished  weapons — a  fact  noticed  by  Mons.  Perrot, 
who  says  that  during  two  years  of  excavations  in 
the  Sidonian  Necropolis  not  one  single  weapon  was 
met  with.  Among  every  other  people  who  were  in 
the  habit  of  depositing  similar  objects  in  the 
tombs,  spears  and  lances,  casques  and  bucklers,  are 
met  with  at  every  turn.  "This  singularity,"  he 
says,  "  can  only  be  explained  by  the  character  and 
habits  of  the  Phoenicians.  This  race  of  merchants 
was  not  warlike  ;  they  manufactured  fine  weapons, 
but  it  was  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  exporting  and 
selling  them  ;  for  themselves  they  never  used  them, 
save  to  defend  their  persons,  and  never  carried 
them  from  motives  of  vanity.  It  was  not  at  the 
point  of  the  sword  that  they  conquered  those 
riches,  and  that  power  of  which  they  were  so 
proud." 

Here,  however,  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a  Punic 
sepulchre,  more  ancient  than  the  Byrsa  or  necropolis 
itself,  and  which  appears  to  enclose  the  remains  of 
one  of  the  first  chiefs  of  the  Carthaginian  Power, 


66    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

together  with  either  members  of  his  family  or  some 
of  his  companions  in  arms.  To  which  age,  then, 
does  this  tomb  belong  ?  Is  it  not  probable  that  it 
belongs  to  that  far-removed  period  when  the  bold 
Tyrian  merchants  came  and  founded  their 
Emporium  on  this  peninsula  ?  It  could  scarcely 
have  been  without  difficulty  and  struggle  that  these 
first  pioneers  of  the  future  Carthage  planted  them- 
selves in  the  land.  It  was  no  doubt  very  necessary 
at  times  to  defend  themselves  with  weapons  against 
the  native  population  when  the  treasures  of  their 
counting-house  were  threatened. 

This  tomb  was  met  with  by  chance,  by  the 
Arabs  working  at  the  foundations  of  some  modern 
building.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  before  they 
acquainted  the  Reverend  Chaplain  of  St.  Louis 
with  the  find,  they  commenced  destroying  it  as 
fast  as  they  could  work  with  their  pick-axes  to 
obtain  the  stones.  When  he  arrived  on  the  scene 
they  had  gone  a  long  way  towards  completing 
their  work  of  vandalism.  Happily  he  arrived  in 
time  to  prevent  its  entire  destruction. 

These  stone  searchers  have  truly  the  genius  for 
destruction  ;  they  cannot  look  at  a  few  feet  of  wall 
without  contemplating  the  immediate  profit  which 
they  could  draw  from  it  by  selling  the  stones  to 
some  landowner  or  builder.  For  centuries  they 
have  fought  and  quarrelled  over  the  ruins  of 
Carthage,  and  have  succeeded  in  making  them 
almost  entirely  disappear. 

As  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century,  Edrisi,  an 
Arab  historian,  relates  how,  since  the  downfall  of 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS    67 

Carthage  until  his  own  times,  they  had  never 
ceased  digging  among  the  ruins  down  to  the 
foundations  for  stone,  and  that  there  was  no  sign 
of  discontinuing  this  destruction  while  they  ex- 
ported to  far-off  countries  incredible  quantities  of 
this  material. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Genoa,  Venice,  Pisa,  Algiers,  Constantino  and, 
we  may  add,  Tunis,  possess  in  their  finest  monu- 
ments marbles  carried  away  from  the  ruins  of 
Carthage. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  walls  of  fortifications,  vestiges 
of  temples  and  palaces,  have  disappeared  stone  by 
stone.  And  to-day,  as  in  the  days  of  Edrisi,  the 
Arabs  never  cease  or  rest  from  destroying  the 
ancient  remains  and  monuments  covered  by  the 
soil. 

This  practically  total  destruction  of  Carthage 
necessarily  adds  a  very  special  interest  to  such 
rare  monuments  as  are  still  met  with  intact. 

The  archaeological  world  therefore  owes  its 
thanks  to  the  late  Cardinal  Lavigerie,  who  first 
awoke  to  the  imperative  necessity  of  an  immediate 
and  methodical  work  of  arrestation  and  investiga- 
tion into  this  sorely  drained  though  still  richly 
treasure-laden  soil. 

When  his  lamented  death  arrested  the  valuable 

work  which  he  had  initiated  and  to  which  he  had 

drawn   the  attention   of   the   learned   societies  of 

France — happily  for  science  and  for  the  future — 

the  work,  too  precious  now  ever  to  be  abandoned 

until  completed,  was  taken  up  with  an  enthusiastic 

68 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS    69 

zeal  joined  to  a  lofty  and  scholarly  spirit  by  the 
Reverend  Pere  Delattre,  who  has  so  absolutely 
identified  Jiimself  with  excavated  Carthage  as  to 
render  it  as  impossible  from  henceforth  to  think  of 
the  two  entities  apart  as  it  would  seem  impossible 
to  dissociate  the  name  of  Dr.  Schliemann  from  the 
ruins  of  Troy. 

He  tells  how  the  excavation  of  the  Byrsa  was 
finally  accomplished  in  the  face  of  the  many 
difficulties  which  would  naturally  occur  in  the  case 
of  expensive  work,  taken  up  in  a  whole-hearted 
fashion  by  a  fraternity  who,  having  already  re- 
nounced all  personal  worldly  possessions,  and 
whose  labours  are  dedicated  to  the  benefit  of  the 
sick  and  suffering,  can  therefore  never  possess  any 
means  save  those  which  are  forthcoming  from  the 
outer  world  Vherewith  to  meet  the  costly  outlay  of 
this  work.  Following  the  occasion  of  the  discovery 
on  the  Byrsa,  he  says  : — 

"  For  several  years  the  resources  which  I  had  to 
dispose  of  did  not  appear  to  me  sufficient  to  under- 
take excavations  at  such  a  depth,  and  therefore  so 
costly.  I  hesitated  for  a  long  time  in  view  of  the 
enormous  quantity  of  earth  which  it  would  be 
necessary  to  remove  before  obtaining  any  serious 
result.  I  was,  besides,  drawn  towards  two  other 
points  of  ancient  Carthage  where  excavation  was 
easier  and  discoveries  certain,  namely,  a  large 
Christian  Cemetery  with  its  interesting  Basilica, 
and  two  other  large  graveyards  reserved  for  slaves 
and  imperial  freedmen,  so  rich  in  information  and 
enlightenment  on  the  offices  of  Roman  administra- 
tion in  the  second  century. 


70    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHOENICIANS 

"  However,  from  time  to  time  I  had  a  few  cubic 
metres  of  earth  removed  from  around  the  Punic 
tomb  of  the  Byrsa,  as  much  for  the  sake  of  pro- 
curing bread  for  the  poor  Arabs  who  soHcited  work, 
as  for  the  certainty  of  coming  across  in  the  soil, 
funereal  amphorae,  fragments  of  fine  Greek  pottery, 
and  above  all  those  small  jars  encircled  with  red 
lines,  having  one  handle,  and  on  the  convexity  a 
conic  beak  called  by  the  Arabs  bazzuola,  signifying 
mamella,  and  found  usually  m  the  neighbourhood 
of  infants'  graves. 

"  But  I  could  not  think  how  to  effect  a  complete 
clearing  which  would  permit  attaining  to  the  most 
ancient  and  likewise  the  most  interesting  tombs. 

"  It  was  not  until  1888  that  I  was  enabled  at  last 
to  study  this  Punic  Necropolis  more  seriously. 
M.  le  Marquis  de  Vogue,  Member  of  the  Institute, 
and  author  of  learned  works  on  the  Antiquities  of 
Syria  and  Palestine,  visiting  one  day  the  ruins  of 
Carthage  and  our  Museum,  was  struck  with  the 
important  results  obtained  by  our  first  essays  and 
desired  to  interest  himself  in  our  researches.  Thanks 
to  a  generous  offering  which  he  vouchsafed  to  remit 
to  me  for  the  purpose  of  contributing  to  the  dis- 
covery of  Punic  monuments  I  was  able  to  take  up 
again  those  labours  so  many  times  arrested,  and 
push  them  on  as  far  as  the  stratum  where  we 
should  find  the  Punic  tombs." 

In  1889  a  further  financial  help  was  supplied  by 
a  Russian  tourist,  a  Monsieur  Jacques  Rosenberg, 
and  with  various  intervals  of  necessitated  inter- 
ruption, the  work  of  excavating  the  hill  of  the 
Byrsa  was  carried  on   until   1896. 


THE   NECROPOLIS    OF   ST.   LOUIS    71 

Meanwhile,  in  the  course  of  digging  into  and 
clearing  away  the  ground  for  the  purposes  of  dis- 
covery, the  following  diverse  remains  belonging 
to  widely  separated  ages  were  met  with  and 
brought  to  light.  The  uppermost  of  these  was  a 
Musulman  Cemetery  of  the  Middle  Ages.  A  fine 
example  of  Byzantine  architecture  and  decoration 
in  the  well-preserved  remains  of  a  house  then  came 
next — in  geological  order,  so  to  speak — followed 
by  some  Roman  cisterns,  a  Roman  road,  a  wall  of 
fortification,  a  series  of  apses,  of  uncertain  use, 
and,  finally,  below  all,  the  Punic  Necropolis. 

The  Musulman  Cemetery  consisted  of  a  group 
of  Arab  graves  about  twenty  in  number,  enclosed 
by  walls.  But  these  walls  were  of  a  date  far 
anterior  to  that  of  the  graves,  belonging,  in  fact,  to 
the  Byzantine  epoch,  and  to  the  Byzantine  house 
already  mentioned.  When  the  Musulman  mourners 
chose  this  spot  to  bury  their  dead,  they  found  an 
enclosure  already  prepared  in  a  half-ruined  hall, 
which  in  crumbling  had  partly  filled  up  the  walls 
emerging  from  the  soil.  Later  on,  the  falling 
earth  from  the  hill-side  above  finished  the  pro- 
cess by  burying  both  the  Arab  tombs  and  the 
Byzantine  house. 

These  tombs,  though  simple  in  form,  were  of  a 
fine  and  careful  type  of  work,  and  one  no  longer 
met  with  in  the  Regency  of  Tunis,  though  ex- 
amples may  still  be  seen  in  Turkey  and  Tripoli. 
Each  of  the  tombs  was  composed  of  a  horizontal 
narrow  stone  slab,  the  length  of  the  body  which  it 
covered.  A  second  slab  of  the  same  length  was 
placed  on  top  of  this,  but   edgewise,  enframing 


72     CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

itself  in  the  lower  one,  its  upper  edge  cut  away 
and  narrowed  off  almost  to  the  thickness  of  a 
knife-blade.  Some  of  these  tombs  were  of  white 
marble  and  better  worked  than  others.  In  these 
the  base  of  the  upper  stone  was  engraved  with 
several  rows  of  beading  and  mouldings  of  even 
simpler  form,  but  good  effect.  Among  the  rest 
some  were  of  the  stone  of  the  country  known  to  the 
Arabs  as  kadd.  They,  too,  were  carefully  worked. 
And  the  last  group  were  made  of  shelly  tufa 
borrowed  from  the  ruins  of  Carthage  and  executed 
with  less  care.  The  best  preserved  of  these  tombs 
have  been  transported  to  the  garden  Museum  of 
the  Convent  of  St.  Louis,  that  wonderful  garden 
which,  like  Milan's  Giardino  di  Marmo,  is  planted 
so  profusely  with  strange  and  beautiful  results  in 
stone  of  "  Man's  expression  of  his  delight  in  the 
works  of  God." 

Beneath  these  tombs,  as  they  were  found  in  the 
ruined  Byzantine  hall,  the  corpse  lay  about  four 
feet  below  the  stone  slab,  in  earth  filled  with,  nay, 
composed  of,  debris ^  and  just  slightly  above  the 
mosaic  floor  with  which  this  room  was  paved,  like 
the  rest  of  the  rooms  which  have  subsequently 
been  completely  cleared,  revealing  them  in  all 
their  beauty  and  freshness.  We  are  fortunate  in 
our  possession  at  the  British  Museum  of  such 
perfect  examples  of  sixth-century  mosaics  from 
Carthage  as  are  shown  on  the  walls  of  the  staircase 
— more  especially  as  otherwise  Byzantine  Carthage 
is  not  strongly  represented  here.  We  are  still 
more  fortunate  in  knowing  that,  humanly  speaking 
they  are  safe  and  likely  to  remain  unhurt  for  an 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.    LOUIS     73 

indefinite  age,  to  delight  and  satisfy  the  archae- 
ological thirst  of  unborn  generations ;  but,  alas  ! 
that  the  same  might  be  said  of  those  exquisite 
carpets  with  their  delicacy  and  brilliancy  of  tint, 
their  "  birds  and  flowers  many  numbered,"  which, 
preserved  in  situ  and  therefore  not  under  the  ever- 
present  care  and  vigilance  of  the  White  Fathers, 
have  already  suffered  and,  one  must  suppose,  will 
continue  to  suffer  from  various  destructive  forces 
in  the  form  of  tourists,  time,  tempests  and  other 
dangers. 

The  half-ruined  hall  in  which  the  Arabs  had 
inhumed  their  dead  formed  part  of  an  edifice  of 
somewhat  considerable  size,  whose  walls,  to  about 
the  height  of  sixteen  feet,  are  still  upright.  The 
building  was  composed  like  our  mediaeval  manors, 
of  a  centre  block  and  two  wings  enclosing  a 
rectangular  court  paved  with  flags  which  cover  a 
cistern.  The  great  hall,  which  subsequently  be- 
came the  Arab  graveyard,  together  with  another 
contiguous  chamber,  is  separated  from  the  court  by 
a  sort  of  corridor  paved  with  mosaic  and  terminated 
by  an  apse  whose  well-preserved  vault  retains  the 
remains  of  more  mosaic. 

In  the  course  of  clearing  away  the  debris  which 
filled  up  and  encumbered  all  the  space  within  the 
walls  of  this  house,  evidence  of  the  richness  of  the 
house  and  its  owners  came  to  light  in  the  form  of 
fine  white  marble  columns  intact  with  base  and 
capital,  columns  of  onyx,  a  large  quantity  of 
marble  plaques  of  all  colours,  being  the  remains  of 
various  decorations  ;  discs,  too,  of  porphyry  and 
malachite,   and    numerous    fragments   of  mosaic 


74    CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

among  which  the  following  designs  appeared  : — 
The  life-sized  head  of  a  lady,  two  theatre  masks, 
a  cow's  head,  the  paws  and  mane  of  a  lion, 
serpents,  fish,  and  birds,  such  as  plovers,  partridges, 
etc.,  garlands,  baskets  of  flowers,  and  series  of 
arcades,  etc.,  etc.  In  addition,  a  beautiful  head 
of  Minerva  in  white  marble  was  unearthed,  a 
bronze  buckle  engraved  and  bearing  a  Byzantine 
monogram,  some  Jewish  lamps  and  a  large  number 
of  Christian  lamps — one  of  these  has  a  disc 
ornamented  with  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  and 
another  bears  the  image  of  a  small  fish,  the  tx^vs 
of  the  early  Church. 

While  on  the  spot  here  digging  our  way  down 
through  Mediaeval,  Arab,  and  Byzantine  Carthage, 
in  order  to  arrive  at  the  Punic  forms  of  sepulture, 
we  may  note  in  passing  the  finding  of  an  enormous 
bone  over  four  feet  in  length,  and  in  form  resembling 
somewhat  a  shoulder-blade,  though  more  elliptical 
than  triangular.  Other  large  bones  came  to  light 
from  time  to  time,  until  the  former  presence  of  a 
whale's  skeleton  on  this  spot  was  proved.  It  must 
necessarily  have  come  here,  or  have  been  thrown 
here,  either  during  or  after  the  Musulman  destruc- 
tion of  Carthage. 

According  to  St.  Augustine,^  the  skeleton  of  a 
sea  monster  was  preserved  and  exhibited  at 
Carthage,  and  it  is  a  propos  of  Jonah  that  he  cites 
the  fact.  Whether  this  is  the  actual  identical 
whale  cannot  be  determined,  but  we  may  presume 
that  the  gigantic  skeleton  was  kept  in  the  Capitol, 

^  In  a  letter  to  Deogratias  written  in  408. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS    75 

and,  therefore,  at  least  very  near  where  the  White 
Fathers  met  with  the  above-mentioned  bones. 

With  regard  to  the  subject  of  Jonah,  the  boat  in 
which  he  embarked  set  sail  for  Tarshish.  It  has 
been  thought  that  this  city  was  situated  on  the 
Mediterranean.  From  among  the  diverse  opinions 
emitted  on  this  subject,  it  is  interesting  to  recall 
that  of  the  Septuagint,  of  St.  Augustine,  and  of 
St.  Jerome,  who  believed  this  city  to  be  no  other 
than  Carthage. 

This  opinion  is  met  with  in  the  Middle  Ages  in 
the  writings  of  an  Arab  geographer,  who  says  that 
the  ancient  name  of  Tunis  was  Tharchiche.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  the  scene  of  Jonah  vomited  by 
the  sea  monster  is  frequently  met  with  at  Carthage, 
on  the  Christian  lamps,  and  in  the  interior  of  the 
country  of  Tunis,  on  the  terra  cotta  tiles  of  which 
one  may  see  very  curious  examples  in  the  Museum 
of  St.  Louis. 

The  mention  in  the  seventy-second  Psalm  of  the 
name  of  Tarshish  coupled  with  that  of  **the 
Isles,"  is  further  illuminating  on  this  point,  perhaps, 
when  we  remember  that  almost  all  the  chief  isles 
of  the  Mediterranean  had  been  at  some  epoch 
Phoenician  possessions  and  settlements. 

In  the  region  of  the  Roman  cistern  found  below 
this  Byzantine  house  a  coin  was  met  with,  which, 
from  its  position,  appeared  to  have  been  designedly 
placed  there  by  the  builders.  Belonging  to  the 
reign  of  Tiberius  it  was  struck  at  Utica  under  the 
decemvirate  of  Lucius  Caecilius  Pius.  It  is  there- 
fore reasonable  to  believe  this  cistern  to  belong  to 
the  first  century  of  our  era. 


76    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

The  traces  of  a  Roman  road  are  next  met  with, 
and  then  the  remains  of  the  wall  built  under 
Theodosius  H.  and  repaired  by  Belisarius  under 
the  Emperor  Justinian. 

A  curious  find  comes  to  light  in  a  series  of  apses 
discovered  about  twelve  feet  behind  the  wall  of 
Theodosius.  These  make  up  altogether  the 
number  of  twenty-three,  including  those  which  are 
complete,  and  the  ruined  remains  of  others. 

They  rest  supported  by  an  enormous  wall  whose 
construction  is  surely  unique,  for  it  is  composed  of 
rows  upon  rows  of  large  terra  cotta  amphorae 
filled  with  earth  and  laid  one  upon  the  other.  On 
the  necks  of  these  jars  the  age  of  the  wine  they 
formerly  contained  is  written  in  red  or  black  ink. 
The  various  dates  spread  over  the  interval  between 
the  years  43  and  15  B.C.,  and  therefore  seem  to 
conclusively  assign  a  Roman  origin  to  this  con- 
struction, these  dates  being  indicated  by  the  names 
of  the  Consuls  of  the  particular  year  in  which  each 
amphora  was  filled. 

The  use  of  the  apses  or  the  object  of  their 
construction  remains  the  subject  of  divided 
opinions.  Some  see  in  them  the  "  hollow  covered 
walls "  of  Appian,  while  others  recognize  a 
Pantheon  dedicatea  to  all  the  pagan  gods  of 
Carthage,  and  others  again  refuse  to  see  in  them 
anything  more  than  ordinary  cisterns. 

They  have,  however,  no  connection  with  the 
Punic  cemetery  below,  beyond  having  served  as 
an,  accidental  protection  which  has  aided  the 
preservation  of  what  would,  without  these  super- 
structures  described,   have    certainly   succumbed, 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS    77 

together  with  the  rest  of  Punic  Carthage,  under 
the  relentless  destructive  forces  which  have  com- 
bined in  carrying  out  the  Roman  edict  and  wiping 
the  old  city  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 

For  this  reason  only,  therefore,  they  deserve 
mention  in  a  notice  set  apart  purposely  for  the 
description  of  the  Punic  origins  and  remains  of 
Carthage. 


CHAPTER  IX 

When  this  layer  of  accumulations  belonging  to 
such  varied  periods  had  been  dug  through  it  was 
found  that  the  actual  soil  to  the  depth  of  nine  feet 
was  filled  with  urns  and  funereal  amphorae,  the  one 
enclosing  calcined  bones,  the  others  bones  showing 
no  trace  of  cremation. 

These  amphorae  were  of  red,  and  at  times  of 
grey,  earth,  frequently  coated  on  the  outside  with  a 
layer  of  yellow.  Their  form  was  as  nearly  as 
possible  that  of  an  ostrich-shell  cut  through  the 
middle,  of  which  the  two  parts  were  joined  to- 
gether again  by  means  of  a  cylinder  of  the  same 
diameter.  They  were  devoid  of  a  neck  and 
supplied  with  two  closely-adhering  handles.  Of 
those  containing  the  calcined  bones  one  example 
found  enclosed  also  a  necklace  which  had  been 
burnt  with  the  body.  The  beads  and  amulets  of 
this  half-melted  collar  were  misshapen  and  soldered 
together. 

All  of  these  vases,  urns  and  amphorae  had  given 
way  under  the  pressure  from  above,  and  were 
every  one  of  them  broken.  In  those  parts  of  the 
ground  which  had  received  foundations  of  buildings, 

78 


THE   NECROPOLIS  OF  ST.   LOUIS    79 

the    vases    immediately   below    were    completely 
smashed  and  flattened. 

A  fairly  typical  collection  of  symbolic  emblems 
was  next  met  with  in  such  diverse  forms  as  a  terra 
cotta  fish,  an  amulet  in  the  form  of  a  triangle 
surmounted  by  a  bar  and  a  ring — the  emblem  of  the 
goddess  Tanith — two  green  jasper  scarabaei,  one  of 
which  bears  engraved  the  picture  of  a  Hercules 
struggling  with  a  lion,  and  lastly  a  statuette  of  the 
goddess  Tanith  herself. 

This  last  is  nineteen  centimetres  high  and  in 
shape  like  a  mummy.  The  ears  and  lips  are  painted 
a  vivid  red,  the  arms  hang  at  the  sides,  and  the  feet, 
though  broken,  would  appear  to  have  been  crossed. 
While  recalling  the  style  of  Egyptian  figurines,  it 
showed  a  certain  degree  of  freedom  of  pose,  or 
liberty,  which  is  lacking  in  the  art  of  the  Nile. 

The  Museum  at  Cagliari  possesses  a  similar 
figurine,  reproduced  by  Mons.  Perrot  in  his  History 
of  Art.  He  gives  the  following  interesting  descrip- 
tion of  it : — 

"  A  type  of  which,  up  to  the  present,  Sardinia 
alone  has  furnished  an  example  is  that  represented 
by  a  beautiful  terra  cotta  from  Tharros.  Arrayed 
in  a  long  robe  and  Egyptian  head-dress,  the  face 
appears  to  have,  at  the  first  glance,  something  of 
the  aspect  of  a  mummy,  reminding  one  of  the 
funereal  figurines  of  Egypt.  It  is,  however,  distinct 
from  this  in  two  characteristics.  Here  the  arms, 
instead  of  being  folded  on  the  breast,  fall  beside  the 
hips  ;  the  feet  are  not  imprisoned  within  a  sheath 
which  hides  the  form  of  the  whole  of  the  lower  part 
of  the  body,  but  appear  below  the  lower  edge  of 


8o    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

the  robe,  and,  like  that  of  the  arms,  their  model- 
ling is  firm  and  true  ;  the  face,  well  framed,  is  not 
lacking  in  a  certain  elegance.  This  figurine,  for 
which  the  artist  has  been  very  freely  inspired  by 
an  oriental  type,  is  certainly  one  of  the  best  works 
which  can  be  attributed  to  Phoenician  modellers 
in  clay.  These  statuettes  found  in  the  cemeteries 
of  Phoenician  Colonies  in  Sardinia,  have  they 
been  brought  from  the  Mother  Country,  or  manu- 
factured in  the  island  itself  by  artists  who  had 
estabHshed  themselves  and  opened  their  studios 
there  ? 

"This  last  hypothesis  seems  much  the  most 
probable  ;  they  commenced,  no  doubt,  in  Sardinia, 
as  in  Cyprus,  by  using  moulds  brought  from 
Phoenicia,  and  finished  by  copying  on  the  spot,  with 
a  certain  freedom,  the  models  which  had  been 
created  in  the  Mother  Country." 

Further  on  he  says  : — 

"  In  the  Western  Colonies  certain  types  in 
connection  with  the  local  cults  have  been  more 
often  reproduced  than  others,  thus,  the  divinity 
holding  the  disc  appears  to  have  been  more  popular 
in  the  Phoenician  colonial  world  than  in  the  ports 
of  the  East." 

A  grey  clay  figurine  of  this  goddess,  of  the  last 
described  type,  was  met  with  in  the  soil  at  present 
under  discussion,  namely,  the  Byrsa,  or  hill  of  St. 
Louis. 

The  Carthaginians  addressed  her  as  the  great 
lady  Tanith,  the  reflection  or  face  of  Baal.  It  was 
to  her  and  to  Baal  Hammon  that  they  offered  the 
three   or  four  thousand  votive  stones    found   in 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS    8i 

Carthage  during  the  last  twenty  years.  All  these 
stelae,  with  scarcely  any  exceptions,  bear  the  same 
formula. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  inscription 
on  one  of  them,  chosen  from  the  Museum  of  St. 
Louis  : — 

"  To  the  great  Lady  Tanith,  face  of  Baal,  and  to 
the  Lord  Baal  Hammon  :  Vow  made  by  Hamilcart, 
son  of  Abd-el-Melkart,  the  Suffete,  son  of  Adoni- 
baal  the  Suffete." 

In  these  inscriptions,  all  written  in  Punic  char- 
acters, one  meets  with  the  well-known  names 
of  Annibal  (Hannibal),  Amilcar  (Abd-el-Melkart), 
Asdrubaal  (Azrubaal),  Hanno,  Mago,  etc.  On 
several  of  the  stelae  the  name  of  the  one  who  has 
made  the  vow  is  followed  by  the  indication  of  his 
profession.  The  names  of  traders  figure  here,  and 
chiefly  those  of  goldsmiths,  silver,  tin  and  iron 
merchants,  recalling  the  verse  in  Ezekiel  xxvii. 
12,  denouncing  the  pride  of  the  city  of  Tyre — 

"  Tarshish  was  thy  merchant  by  reason  of  the 
multitude  of  all  kinds  of  riches ;  with  silver ^  iron^  tin 
and  lead,  they  traded  in  thy  fairs'* 

Or  to  quote  from  the  Vulgate — 

"  Carthaginenses  negotiatores  tuiy  a  multitudine 
cunctarum  divitiaru7n^  argento,  ferro,  stanno^ 
plumboqiie,  repleverunt  nundinas  tuas!' 

While  still  digging  in  the  region  of  the  am- 
phorae, before  arriving  at  the  actual  Punic  tombs, 
many  remarkable  and  characteristic  necklaces  came 
to  light,  one  of  which  is  composed  of  seventy-eight 
beads  and  amulets.  Bes,  the  oudjah,  and  the  urceus 
almost   invariably  figure  several  times  among  the 


82     CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

collection,  and  several  upright  figures  are  likewise 
very  frequently  noticed  having  either  the  head  of  a 
monkey  or  a  sparrowhawk.  Other  charms  appear 
only  once  in  the  same  necklace,  such  as  fishhooks 
of  bronze  and  ivory,  a  dolphin,  a  palm,  and  a  kind 
of  domino  pierced  with  small  holes.  Small  silver 
rings  and  copper  rings  covered  with  a  fine  layer  of 
gold  are  likewise  found  to  constitute  the  elements 
of  these  necklaces,  as  well  as  bronze  cylinders  and 
long  glass  beads  having  somewhat  the  form  and 
very  nearly  the  colour  of  cigars,  and  divers  animals, 
sparrowhawks,  crouching  lions,  etc. 

It  was  especially  in  this  upper  layer  that  the 
necklaces  were  found,  belonging  to  those  corpses 
whose  bones  had  been  enclosed  in  an  urn  or 
amphora. 

One  of  these  amphorae,  cracked  all  over,  had 
nevertheless  resisted  the  pressure  from  above 
sufficiently  to  make  it  possible  to  take  note  of  the 
disposition  of  the  deceased.  It  was  found  to 
contain  the  skeleton  of  a  child.  The  head  occupied 
the  base  of  the  amphora,  and  the  feet  touched  the 
orifice.  It  was  evident  that  the  vase  must  have 
been  broken  in  order  to  introduce  the  body,  and 
that  the  broken  parts  were  afterwards  re-united. 
Behind  and  around  the  skull  some  bronze  hoops 
were  recovered,  recalling  those  large  metal  rings,  to 
simulate  earrings,  worn  by  Tunisian  Arab  women 
in  the  country,  but  which  are  in  reality  hung  each 
side  of  the  face  by  means  of  a  cord  passing  over  the 
top  of  the  head. 

On  the  breast  of  this  skeleton  was  found  one 
bead,  a  silver  ring,  and  several  of  those  amulets 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS     83 

representing  either  the  Mystic  Eye  of  Osiris  or  the 
god  Bes.  But  at  times  the  chief  amulet  of  the 
necklace  was  a  little  bell,  sometimes  of  bronze  and 
occasionally  of  gold. 

One  of  these  amphorae  was  found  lying  horizon- 
tally in  the  soil ;  the  bottom,  broken  to  facilitate  the 
introduction  of  a  child's  body,  was  afterwards 
closed  by  the  help  of  stones.  Near  the  head  some 
collar  beads  were  recovered,  and  next  the  feet  two 
small  vases  had  been  placed.  One  of  these  was 
that  peculiar  type  already  referred  to,  called  by  the 
Arabs  "  bazzuola,"  with  a  conic  beak  on  the  convex- 
ity, a  type  which,  though  employed  by  them  to-day 
for  ordinary  domestic  uses,  was  in  all  probability 
originally  intended  to  serve  as  a  feeding-bottle  for 
the  little  dead  children  in  their  tombs  ;  a  pathetic 
substitute  for  the  mother  who  could  not  accompany 
them  on  the  dread  unknown  journey.  This  at 
least  is  the  solution  which  suggests  itself  in  the 
presence  of  those  curious  jars  invariably  found 
accompanied  by  the  skeleton  of  an  infant,  and 
never  met  with  in  those  larger  tombs  below. 

These  amphorae,  which  enclose  simply  calcined 
bones,  are  in  many  respects  analogous  to  certain 
archaic  ceramics  coming  from  Cyprus  and  Rhodes, 
and  the  discovery  of  this  very  considerable  number 
of  urns  indicates  that  at  a  certain  epoch  the 
Carthaginians,  imitating  the  Greeks,  adopted  the 
practice  of  cremation.  There  is  the  testimony,  too> 
of  Justin,  who  relates  how  Darius  sent  an  embassy 
to  the  Carthaginians  praying  them  not  to  eat  the 
flesh  of  dogs  nor  to  burn  their  dead,  and  we  do 
not  forget  that  Virgil  makes  Dido  perish  on  her 


84     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

funeral  pyre.  In  i86i  a  tomb  was  found  at  Sidon 
enclosing  the  cremated  bones  and  ashes,  and  a 
certain  number  of  similar  instances  have  been  met 
with  even  in  the  case  of  Hebrew  tombs. 

Finally,  however,  after  much  digging,  the  pick-axe 
struck  the  upper  extremity  of  a  real  sepulchre. 

At  first  nothing  but  the  points  of  the  two  large 
abutting  stones  was  revealed.  They  were  enough, 
however,  to  indicate  what  was  coming,  owing  to 
that  unvarying  peculiarity  in  the  mode  of  construc- 
tion met  with  in  these  early  tombs.  Two  cells  of 
graves  were  dug  or  built  in  the  soil  and  were 
then  covered  with  four  large  slabs  or  flagstones, 
surrounded  by  four  solid  walls,  which  were  then 
roofed  in  by  means  of  two  enormous  stones  leaning 
to  or  abutting  on  to  each  other,  thus  leaving  an 
upper  portion  of  the  tomb  between  the  apse  and 
the  upper  stones  of  the  two  graves.  In  this  upper 
story  an  uncoffined  skeleton  was  occasionally  found 
in  addition  to  those  below — while  at  other  times, 
this  portion  merely  enclosed  some  of  the  charms, 
such  as  necklaces,  placed  there  for  the  spiritual 
protection  of  the  corpse.  This  upper  portion  may 
be  compared  in  form  and  dimensions  to  the  small 
tents  used  by  soldiers  while  campaigning.  This 
first  tomb  was  completely  empty  in  its  upper  tent- 
like portion. 

An  amusing  incident  associated  with  this 
discovery  is  related  by   Pere  Delattre. 

It  being  necessary  to  remove  with  great  care 
some  huge  slabs  to  make  an  entry  into  the  tomb, 
this  operation  was  confided  to  one  of  the  Arab 
workmen  well  known  to  the  Fathers.     Especially 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS   85 

devoted  to  them,  this  man  never  wearied  in  relating 
the  kind  acts  of  which  he  had  been  the  recipient 
from  the  hands  of  the  late  Cardinal  Lavigerie,  nor 
to  recall  the  remembrance  of  those  missionaries 
whom  he  had  known  personally  during  their  stay 
in  Carthage,  mentioning  them  by  name,  though  at 
the  same  time  murdering  with  his  pronunciation 
the  very  names  which  were  so  dear  to  him. 

"  We  were  very  low  down  below  the  surface  of 
the  hill,"  says  Pere  Delattre,  "  when  I  said  to  our 
Hadj-Aly,  *  You  see  this  stone ;  you  must  clear  it 
right  away,  and  when  it  is  moved  you  will  find 
underneath  a  niche  filled  with  vases  of  different 
sizes.  Don't  touch  anything,  but  come  at  once  and 
tell  me.' 

"  Hadj-Aly  looked  at  the  Father  with  astonished 
air,  but,  full  of  confidence,  took  his  pick-axe  and  set 
to  work,  while  the  Reverend  Father  left  him  and 
went  away  back  to  the  Convent.  But  half-an-hour 
had  scarcely  passed  when  he  heard  loud  peals  of 
laughter  echoing  through  the  cloisters.  It  was 
Hadj-Aly,  who  had  arrived  quite  out  of  breath  to 
tell  what  had  happened,  and  quite  unable  to 
contain  his  surprise  at  having  found  at  a  certain 
depth  exactly  those  things  which  he  had  already 
been  told  to  expect.  As  the  Father  went  back  to 
the  tomb  Hadj-Aly  accompanied  him,  saying  with 
emotion,  *  Oh  Father,  thou  knowest  everything ; 
there  is  not  a  single  spot  in  Carthage  where  thou 
canst  not  say,  "  On  digging  here,  such  and  such 
a  thing  will  be  found,"  and,  besides,  thou  knowest 
how  to  read  the  books  which  reveal  the  things  under 
the  earth.'     And  when  the  Father  told  him  that 


86     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIAxNS 

the  books  had  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with 
the  discovery  which  he  had  predicted,  he  started 
laughing  again  in  a  peculiar  way  which  showed 
plainly  that  he  did  not  believe  this,  and  replied,  *  I 
once  saw  in  your  room  a  large  number  of  books ; 
what  is  the  use  of  so  much  writing  if  it  doesn't  tell 
you  what  is  under  the  earth  ? ' " 


CHAPTER    X 

The  potteries  taken  from  the  niche  at  the  head 
of  the  skeleton  comprised  a  large  vase  in  the  form 
of  a  cylinder  resting  on  an  inverted  cone,  with  two 
small  side  handles  and  terminated  at  the  top  by  a 
very  slightly  conic  disc,  two  small  short-necked 
jars,  a  patera  of  reddish  earth,  and  two  small  phials 
with  one  handle. 

Two  skeletons  were  here,  each  in  an  identical 
position,  lying  on  the  top  of  the  stone  graves  below 
and  covered  with  the  usual  shreds  of  rotten  cedar 
wood.  Beneath  these  shreds  a  series  of  vases  was 
revealed,  arranged  the  whole  length  of  the  body, 
and  almost  all  of  them  upset.  One  only  at  the 
bottom  was  still  upright.  From  beneath  the 
crumbling  remains  of  the  skull  a  little  hatchet 
razor  was  taken.  As  has  been  mentioned,  these 
votive  hatchets  had  already  been  met  with  both  in 
the  graves  of  Douimes  and  the  upper  layer  of  earth 
containing  the  funereal  urns  over  above  these  Punic 
tombs  at  present  under  discussion.  A  curious 
bronze  object  in  the  form  of  a  T,  and  terminated 
by  a  ring,  was  also  found  here,  but  this  was  by  no 
means  the  first  time  such  a  find  occurred.  Finally, 
near  the  left  foot  was  a  Punic  lamp  and  its  patera, 

87 


88     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

the  former  upset  and  showing  signs  of  having  only 
once  been  used. 

Except  that  these  crumbling  bones  were  of  a 
yellowish  tint,  there  is  nothing  further  to  note  with 
regard  to  this  skeleton ;  while  that  reposing  at  the 
side  of  the  first  was  of  a  deep  brown  hue.  Its 
condition,  as'  well  as  the  objects  accompanying  it, 
appeared  to  be  identical  with  that  of  the  first, 
except  that  three  lamps  in  this  case  were  discovered, 
one  in  the  niche  above  its  head,  one  near  the  left 
shoulder,  and  one  between  the  two  femurs,  upset 
and  covered  with  its  patera ;  evidently  this  last 
had  been  placed  originally  on  the  knees  of  the 
corpse.  The  lamp  was  unblackened  and  the  wick 
preserved.  Some  of  the  large  vases  disposed 
around  these  skeletons  retained  deposits  of  the 
liquids  which  once  filled  them. 

The  heavy  stones  which  covered  the  graves 
below  necessitated  the  employing  of  a  lever  in  their 
removal,  and  within  the  grave  here  once  more  a 
yellow  skeleton  was  met  with.  The  skeleton  was 
in  sufficiently  good  condition  to  render  it  worth 
while  to  give  it  a  coating  of  spermaceti  towards  its 
further  preservation.  It  was  unaccompanied  by 
either  bronze  work  or  pottery,  and  the  same 
absence  of  accompaniments  characterized  the 
second  skeleton,  with  the  exception  of  a  bronze 
buckle  in  the  form  of  a  Y. 

In  1889  a  monolithic  sarcophagus  of  shelly  tufa 
was  found  close  to  the  warrior's  tomb  already 
described  as  being  found  in  1880.  The  right  hand 
was  placed  on  the  thigh,  the  left  on  the  hip. 
Contrary   to    expectation,    no   single  example   of 


TERRA-COTTA  FIGURE   {Bord-d-Djedid) 


{See  p.  144. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS   89 

pottery  was  found  in  this  coffin  ;  nothing,  in  fact, 
but  a  very  oxidized  bronze  pin  beneath  the  left 
shoulder-blade,  which  no  doubt  had  served  to 
fasten  a  garment.  However,  on  continuing  the 
excavation,  four  vases  were  at  length  found  outside 
the  sarcophagus.  Their  heavy  form  of  coarse 
undecorated  clay  placed  them  among  the  class  of 
the  most  primitive  pottery. 

It  was  in  the  region  of  these  tombs,  in  the  course 
of  digging  for  others,  that  the  best  examples  were 
found  of  those  most  curious  masks,  composed  of  a 
moon-shaped  cutting  from  an  ostrich's  eggshell, 
painted  partly  and  partly  engraved  with  human 
features,  in  red,  white  and  black,  of  the  most  rude 
and  primitive  kind  ;  surely  an  instance  of  the  very 
earliest  style  of  painting  among  the  Phoenicians. 

The  same  types  of  workmanship  already  de- 
scribed as  shown  in  the  innumerable  votive  offerings 
continued  to  reveal  themselves  in  numbers,  both  in 
and  around  the  tombs  of  this  region.  We  may 
notice,  in  passing,  the  occurrence  of  bronze  castanets, 
instruments  whose  use,  so  strongly  implanted  in 
Spain  to-day,  may  possibly  be  the  result  not  of 
the  Moorish  occupation  of  nearer  times,  but  of  that 
far  distant  Phoenician  colonization  which  occupied 
the  larger  southern  half  of  the  Peninsula. 

Also  the  earrings  have  a  peculiar  interest  of  their 
own.  The  ring  or  hook  which  enters  the  lobe  of 
the  ear  is  further  decorated  by  a  T  joined  on  to 
the  base,  and  thus  the  Egyptian  cross  or  tau  is 
formed.  There  is  strong  reason  to  suppose  that 
this  was  the  form  of  those  earrings  which  in  the 
time  of  Moses  the  Israelitish  women  wore,  copying 


90    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

their  Egyptian  neighbours,  and  it  was  such  rings 
as  these  fashioned  in  gold  that  contributed  towards 
the  shaping  of  the  Golden  Calf 

Similar  earrings  both  in  silver  and  gold  have 
been  found  in  Sardinia,  and  are  to  be  seen  in  the 
very  valuable  collection  at  Cagliari.  They  have 
not,  however,  up  to  the  present  been  discovered  in 
any  other  region  of  Phoenician  remains.  That  the 
piercing  of  the  ear  was  a  ceremony  of  mystic 
importance  is  probable,  and  the  operation,  still 
performed  to-day  in  parts  of  France  by  the  Sage 
Femmey  was  no  doubt  as  much  associated  with 
magic  ritual  as  the  process  of  shaving.  One  of  the 
ceramics  coming  from  the  third  important  Punic 
cemetery  bears  an  interesting  picture  of  a  lady's 
toilette,  depicting  the  crucial  moment  when  the 
slave  maid — or  was  it  the  Sage  Femme  ? — was 
about  to  subject  her  mistress  to  the  painful 
operation  of  having  her  earring  inserted. 

A  magnificent  bronze  vase  which  we  have  to 
notice  here  is  unique  of  its  kind.  It  stands  thirty- 
two  centimetres  high,  was  originally  gilded,  and  is 
strikingly  graceful  in  shape. 

The  handle,  rising  beyond  the  height  of  the  beak, 
describes  an  elegant  curve.  The  points  of  attach- 
ment of  this  handle  are  curious.  The  extremity 
which  joins  the  top  of  the  vase  inside  the  neck  is 
decorated  with  a  calf's  head  surmounted  by  a  globe 
between  two  urcei,  and  the  other  extremity  joining 
the  convexity  of  the  vase  is  terminated  by  a  palm 
identical  to  that  which  decorated  the  handles  of 
the  colossal  vase  from  Amathus  at  present  in  the 
Louvre.     These  palm-like  terminations  appear  to 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS    91 

have  been  very  popular  with  Phoenician  goldsmiths 
and  workers  in  bronze. 

The  interior  of  this  vase  enclosed  a  somewhat 
thick  layer  of  red  matter  resembling  clay. 

The  somewhat  unusual  find  of  a  basket  has  next 
to  be  recorded.  At  first  it  was  mistaken  for  a 
piece  of  coarse  canvas,  or  some  such  material, 
distinctly  blackened  for  some  unknown  reason. 
It  is  finely  plaited  in  rushes  and  might  well  be 
a  duplicate  of  that  made  for  the  little  Moses. 
Completely  flattened  and  sunken  within  itself  in 
undulating  folds,  it  proved  to  be  lined  within  with 
a  leather  hide,  extremely  thin  and  devoid  of  con- 
sistence. When  lifting  it  gently  up,  there  slipped 
from  its  folds  a  mirror,  a  hatchet,  two  long  handles 
of  unequal  size,  preserving  the  attached  remains  of 
wood,  three  round  beads  and  a  double-faced  amulet 
of  Egyptian  paste. 

The  mirror  was  a  circular  brass  plaque,  and, 
unhke  the  Roman  mirrors  of  the  same  metal  found 
at  Carthage,  it  had  no  handle,  but  was  simply 
furnished  with  a  small  appendix  pierced  with  a 
hole  which  permitted  it  to  be  hung  by  the  aid  of  a 
cord. 

The  Arab  countrywomen  of  Tunis  of  the  pre- 
sent day  carry  a  circular  glass,  fastened  to  their 
clothing,  on  their  chests.  Possibly  this  mirror  may 
serve  to  give  an  idea  of  those  in  use  among  the 
Israelitish  women  in  the  time  of  Moses ;  those,  in 
fact,  who,  as  it  is  recorded  in  Exodus,  assembled  at 
the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  and  offered  their  mirrors 
to  make  a  brass  basin. 

The  amulet  was  a  small  rectangular  tablet  of 


92     CARTHAGE  OF  THE    PHCENICIANS 

Egyptian  paste  bearing  on  one  side  the  oudjah  or 
Mystic  Eye  of  Osiris,  and  on  the  other  a  cow 
suckling  her  calf,  which,  symbolizing  Isis  suckling 
Horus,  was  a  subject  not  only  greatly  in  favour  in 
Egypt,  but  also  in  Sardinia,  an  island  which,  more 
than  all  the  other  isles  of  the  Mediterranean,  has 
kept  strong  traces  of  its  Phoenician  character,  not 
only  in  the  rich  store  of  archaeological  remains 
revealed  by  its  soil,  but  also  perhaps  in  the  curious 
speech  of  to-day,  that  strange  Sardo  of  the  peasants, 
which  is  almost  as  far  removed  from  the  Italian 
as  the  Basque  tongue  is  removed  from  the  French, 
or  the  Gaelic  from  the  English. 

In  1890  the  work  of  excavation  in  the  Byrsa 
region  was  taken  up  again  after  an  interval  of  a 
year  or  so.  This  time  it  was  Cardinal  Lavigerie 
who  financed  the  undertaking,  with  the  assistance 
of  a  generous  French  family  named  Couvreux- 
Decauville. 

The  practice  of  digging  downwards  to  arrive  at 
the  tombs  was  abandoned,  and,  instead,  a  trench 
was  made  at  the  side  of  the  hill,  and  then  an 
escarpment,  so  as  to  reach  the  entrance  of  the 
sepulchres  from  their  own  level.  A  great  hindrance 
was  met  with  in  the  shape  of  an  enormous  wall  of 
a  later  age,  possibly  Byzantine,  whose  thickness 
and  solidity  rendered  it  a  truly  formidable  obstacle. 

Once  in  the  region  of  the  bed  rock  clay,  they 
met  with  one  of  those  primitive  Punic  tombs 
similar  to  the  examples  found  in  the  soil  of 
Douimes,  with  practically  the  same  accompani- 
ments, jars,  necklace,  amulets,  etc.,  with  representa- 
tions of  Bes,  urceus,  crouching  lion,  etc. 


ENGRAVED  PUNIC  RAZORS  {Bord-el-Djedid) 


[See  p.  1 60. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS    93 

Thus  the  hill  of  the  Byrsa  had  revealed  so  far 
this  fact,  that  it  had  unquestionably  been  employed 
as  a  site  of  burial  for  the  inhabitants  of  Carthage 
for  a  considerably  lengthy  period,  and  had  not 
only  contained  the  most  primitive  style  of  inhuma- 
tion, but  had  likewise  filled  up  the  gap  of  that 
transitional  epoch  when  Punic  Carthage  had 
practically  abandoned  its  Egyptian  tendencies, 
without  having  wholly  adopted  that  Greek  char- 
acter which  was  to  introduce  itself  later  into  Punic 
art  and  manners. 

However,  immediately  after  the  simple  grave  a 
typical  stone  tomb  was  found,  to  be  followed  by 
many  more  furnishing  matter  for  enlightenment  on 
the  subject  of  this  curious  change  and  development, 
and  transition  from  one  period  to  another.  There 
certainly  is  no  hard  line  of  demarcation  indicated 
anywhere. 

In  1890  the  first  stone  tomb  discovered  was  no 
longer  like  the  earlier  types,  the  merely  simple 
graves  dug  in  the  ultimate  clay  below  the  accu- 
mulated soil,  but  proved  to  be,  on  the  contrary, 
a  monumental  subterranean  chamber  closed  by  a 
fine  great  stone  of  the  native  tufa,  exactly  two 
metres  high  placed  upright,  forming  a  door,  and 
reminding  one  of  the  tombs  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
A  second  stone  had  been  abutted  on  to  this  to 
keep  it  in  place,  and  during  about  twenty-five 
centuries  nothing  had  moved. 

Two  sarcophagi  were  here,  closed  by  four  large 
flagstones,  while  to  the  left  lay  a  skeleton,  its  feet 
turned  towards  the  entrance.  This  skeleton  ap- 
peared to  hold  the  position  of  an  outsider  of  some 


94    CARTHAGE  OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

sort,  since  it  did  not  share  with  the  others  the 
dignity  of  a  stone  sarcophagus.  On  the  right  and 
left,  the  whole  length  of  the  body,  was  a  slight 
deposit  of  greenish  matter,  the  remains  probably  of 
a  shroud  or  garment  of  some  sort. 

Here  the  absence  of  a  coffin  is  remarked  as  in 
Dou'fmes,  though  the  presence  of  fragments  of 
rotten  cedar-wood  sprinkled  over  the  skeleton 
raises  the  debatable  question  as  to  whether  the 
wood  was  originally  employed  in  shreds  as  a  pre- 
servative from  decay,  or  whether  these  shreds 
represent  the  crumbled  remains  of  a  decomposed 
coffin.  A  strip  of  bronze  twice  encircling  one  of 
the  fragments  of  rotten  wood  may  have  been  the 
remains  of  a  coffin  handle,  but  this  is  problematical. 

As  has  been  said,  it  was  the  first  tomb  opened 
on  this  site,  and  it  revealed  a  whitish  earthen  jar 
with  conic  base  unlike  any  as  yet  met  with  in 
Punic  tombs.  Here  at  once  was  a  departure  from 
curious  and  typical  amphorae  with  stems  noticed 
in  the  earlier  cemetery. 

At  the  extremity  of  this  cell  immediately  under 
the  ceiling  two  square  niches  enclosed  each  one 
two  jars  which  took  up  all  their  breadth  and 
height.  At  the  edge  of  the  left  niche  was  found  in 
addition  a  dish  filled  with  bones. 

The  upper  part  of  the  cell  had  been  plastered 
with  whitewash  or  stucco,  and  an  instance  of  the 
care  with  which  they  strove  to  hermetically  seal  the 
tomb  was  seen  in  a  lump  of  this  plaster  which  lay 
upon  the  floor,  immediately  under  the  cavity  in  the 
ceiling  from  which  it  had  dropped,  after  having 
been  placed  there  to  stop  up  the  gap.     It  had  been 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS    95 

applied  with  the  hand  and  preserved  the  marks  of 
the  fingers  of  the  workman.  A  little  ivory  or  bone 
box  was  found  here  with  a  circular  rim  ;  the  inside 
was  coloured  with  bright  red,  no  doubt  on  account 
of  its  having  contained  vermilion,  a  substance  met 
with  somewhat  frequently  in  the  Punic  tombs. 

But  the  whole  of  it  at  the  first  contact  fell  into 
dust.  A  bronze  mirror,  oxidized  to  a  brilliant 
green,  was  also  recovered  from  among  the  heap  of 
rotten  shreds  of  wood,  and  a  bronze  hatchet  razor. 
Likewise  there  were  three  amulets,  one  a  figure  of 
Bes,  another  the  head  of  a  dog,  and  a  third  the  head 
of  a  sparrowhawk. 

Of  the  skeletons  contained  in  the  sarcophagi,  that 
on  the  left  appeared  to  have,  so  to  speak,  scattered 
its  bones  somewhat  in  disorder.  The  vertebral 
column  was  curved  and  the  ribs  were  distributed 
in  a  singular  fashion.  One  of  them  had  slipped 
away  from  the  rest  and  fallen  against  the  west  wall 
of  the  grave.  The  first  idea  naturally  to  seize  the 
imagination  was  that  the  poor  creature  must 
originally  have  been  prematurely  interred.  How- 
ever, the  peculiarity  of  the  position  of  the  bones 
may  be  possibly  accounted  for  by  the  fact  of  the 
corpse  having  been  laid  in  his  tomb  on  his  side 
instead  of,  as  more  usually  occurs,  on  his  back. 

After  the  decomposition  of  the  muscles,  the  dis- 
location of  the  bones  would  result  in  the  ribs, 
instead  of  falling  one  after  the  other  each  side  of 
the  vertebral  column,  slipping  one  on  the  top  of  the 
other. 

The  second  skeleton  was  completely  reduced  to 
a  crumbled  mass,  forming  together  with  the  rotten 


96    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

wood  a  striated  heap  of  brown  and  yellow,  green 
and  white,  covering  the  bottom  of  the  grave.  From 
where  the  left  hand  had  been,  six  little  hollow  silver 
cylinders  were  recovered,  being  the  remains  of  a 
bracelet. 


CHAPTER  XI 

It  was  not  until  the  third  tomb  was  opened  that 
the  first  coin  was  met  with,  which  though  very- 
much  oxidized  was  easily  recognizable  as  a  Punic 
piece,  and  again  for  the  first  time  there  appeared 
the  presence  of  little  terra-cotta  objects  known  till 
lately  by  the  name  of  lachrymatories^  which  were 
destined,  in  the  course  of  these  excavations,  to  reveal 
themselves  in  hundreds.  They  were  encircled 
with  brown  painted  lines,  a  form  of  decoration  to 
which  the  unimaginative  Carthaginian  potter  seems 
to  have  been  particularly  addicted.  They  must 
have  been  thrown  into  the  grave  during  the  course 
of  the  interment,  for  the  major  part  were  found  on 
the  surface  and  usually  broken.  A  small  double- 
spouted  jar  of  fine  red  earth,  unvarnished,  but 
red  inside  and  black  outside,  contrasting  as  it 
does  with  the  other  types  of  pottery  found  in  this 
tomb,  would  seem  to  suggest  here  what  is  noticed 
in  other  instances  in  this  cemetery — that  the  tomb 
must  have  been  made  use  of  at  separate  intervals 
of  time. 

The  fourth  tomb  opened  was  one  extraordinarily 
rich  in  worldly  possessions — their  inventory  is  well 
worth    consideration   and    contemplation.      Gold, 

97  G 


98    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

silver,  bronze,  glass,  ivory,  ceramic,  etc.,  are  well 
represented. 

Gold. — Diadem  frontal,  a  band,  thirty-six 
centimetres  in  length,  placed  at  each  extremity, 
with  little  holes  permitting  the  introduction  of  a 
thread  to  fix  it. 

Earring  in  the  form  of  a  ring  or  rather  a  hook, 
terminating  in  the  form  of  a  T,  making  together 
the  Egyptian  Tau. 

Silver. — A  simple  ring. 

A  figurine  representing  a  man  upright  in  an 
erect  attitude,  the  left  leg  advanced,  the  arms 
hanging  close  to  the  sides  ;  the  face  appears  to  be 
bearded. 

A  spherical  bead,  pierced  for  threading. 

A  small  tablet  with  rectangular  base,  but  with 
rounded  upper  corners  and  adorned  with  a  ram's 
head,  being  an  amulet. 

Bronze. — Two  discs  supplied  with  a  ring  in  the 
centre.  The  sides  opposite  to  the  rings  are 
slightly  concave.  These  objects  were  used  as 
cymbals  or  castanets,  being  of  Egyptian  or 
Assyrian  origin. 

Ivory. — A  rectangular  tablet  whose  front  is  en- 
graved with  lines  which  have  partly  become  effaced, 
but  which  permit  the  recognition  of  an  Assyrian 
taste  in  this  handiwork. 

According  to  Mons.  G.  Perrot,  these  ivory 
plaques  were  one  of  the  principal  articles  of  export- 
ation from  Tyre,  Sidon  and  Carthage. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  rich  results  of  these 
excavations  were  as  yet  unrevealed  and  belonging 
to  the  then   unborn   future  when   his   notice   of 


<    <    t      t 


THE    NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS      99 

Carthage  was  written,  otherwise  we  might  have 
received  from  the  same  pen  which  wrote  so  charm- 
ingly and  exhaustively  of  Phoenicia  proper  and  the 
Isles,  a  rich  and  valuable  record  of  that  which  lies 
to  our  hands  to-day  accomplished  for  us  by  the 
skill,  experience  and  unwearying  pains  of  the 
White  Fathers  of  Carthage. 

Two  large  ivory  pin-heads  were  also  found. 
Shells. — A  bivalvular  shell  (pecten).  The  two 
valves  are  held  together  at  their  points  of  meeting 
by  a  bronze  wire  forming  a  double  hinge,  making  a 
sort  of  box  of  the  shell,  and  a  little  ring  is  fixed 
into  the  centre  of  the  upper  half. 

Upwards  of  twenty  fragments  of  ostrich  egg- 
shell. One  of  them  is  decorated  with  a  drawing 
composed  of  red  squares  forming  a  draught-board 
pattern. 

Several  other  fragments  likewise  preserve  traces 
of  paintings  in  vermilion.  These  eggshells  must 
have  been  used  as  recipients.  One  of  the  frag- 
ments proves  that  the  rim  of  these  cups  or  vases 
was  scalloped  or  dented. 

GlasSy  etc. — A  necklace  ;  except  for  a  few  bronze 
and  agate  beads,  all  the  rest  which  composed  the 
necklace  were  of  glass,  among  which  were  found 
four  scarabaei,  several  representations  of  the  god 
Bes,  six  figurines  of  black  glass,  four  masks,  a 
winged  face  of  a  man,  the  head  of  a  monkey,  a 
cow,  a  urcsus,  a  lotus  flower,  two  unguentaria,  etc., 
etc. 

As  for  the  scarabaei,  two  are  of  green  and  two 
of  blue  glass,  and  it  is  evident  that  they  have 
been  moulded — not  carved  or  engraved. 


100    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

Several  thousand  small  loose  beads  next  come 
into  the  list,  red,  white,  yellow,  orange,  green, 
brown,  and  black,  of  the  size  of  those  which 
children  amuse  themselves  by  threading. 

Ceramics. — A  grey  earthen  jar  with  hemispherical 
cover  decorated  with  a  horizontal  black  band  be- 
tween two  red  lines.  At  the  bottom  of  the  jar, 
lying  among  some  black  and  brown  matter,  was 
found  the  golden  diadem  already  described,  to- 
gether with  some  beads,  some  teeth  and  human 
bones. 

Two  fine  globular  vases  with  stems  of  beautiful  red 
earth — probably  censers. 

Two  cylinders  of  red  earth,  open  at  the  base  and 
orifice  and  serving  to  support  vases. 

A  red  earthen  goblet  encircled  with  black  lines. 

A  patera,  black,  with  orange  red  edges  pierced 
with  two  holes  made  before  baking,  indicating 
perhaps  a  votive  distination. 

A  grey  earthen  jar  decorated^with  a  red  band 
and  narrower   lines  of  black. 

Three  double-handled  cups,  wide  and  short,  black, 
and  varnished  on  the  handles,  and  decorated  out- 
wardly with  black  bands  on  a  pale  red  ground. 
Each  one  differs  from  the  other  in  height.  In  the 
largest  was  found  the  ivory  plaque  and  the  thou- 
sands of  little  beads. 

A  small  single-handled  vase  of  black  earth 
elegant  in  form,  like  the  pottery  of  Cumae. 

A  small  Corinthian  oinochoe  or  jug  with  hemi- 
spheric convexity,  very  short  neck,  and  orifice 
slightly  pinched  to  form  a  spout.  The  handle  rises 
above  the  orifice,  describing  a  very  elegant  curve. 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS      loi 

The  convexity  is  encircled  with  lines,  some  white 
and  some  of  a  sombre  colour.  Below  the  handle 
it  is  decorated  with  a  frieze  of  animals  with  very 
elongated  bodies. 

Common  Potteries. — Among  the  six  examples  of 
common  pottery  found  was  a  red  earthen  double- 
handled  vase  with  conic  base,  cylindrical  form, 
mushroom-like  summit. 

The  invariable  presence  of  the  Punic  lamp  and 
its  patera  was  not  lacking  in  this  instance. 

Alabaster. — Finally,  this  tomb  produced  an  ala- 
bastrum,  nineteen  centimetres  high.  The  alabaster 
from  which  it  was  made  had  not  been  polished. 

In  order  to  scatter  the  perfume  the  neck  of  the 
bottle  had  been  broken,  a  detail  met  with  several 
times  in  these  investigations,  and  one  recalling  the 
scene  in  the  house  of  Simon  the  Leper. 

It  is  interesting  to  learn  that  on  the  very  same 
day  this  tomb  was  opened,  October  4,  1890,  there 
was  discovered  in  Malta  at  Notabile  a  rich  Punic 
tomb  formed  of  two  cells  hollowed  in  the  rock. 
The  contents  were  composed  of  several  large  vases, 
lamps  of  Punic  form,  unguentaricB^  patercs  and 
several  trinkets.  A  golden  clasp  worked  in  re- 
pousse bore  the  Phoenician  palm  between  two 
animals  facing.  These  treasures  are  to  be  seen 
to-day  in  the  Museum  at  Valetta. 

Few  of  the  tombs  however  found,  together  with 
the  above-quoted  Carthaginian  example,  can  boast 
of  anything  approaching  the  richness  and  variety  it 
showed  in  the  manner  in  which  it  was  stocked. 

The  distinction  to  be  noticed  between  these 
tombs  found  in  the  lowest  stratum  and  those  which 


102    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

followed  after  in  the  course  of  continuing  the  ex- 
cavations during  1892  and  1893,  is  that  the  earlier 
ones  contained  no  traces  of  mortar,  nor  inscriptions, 
nor  coins,  nor  Greek  vases. 

A  common  grave,  however,  containing  the  re- 
mains of  some  hundreds  of  Carthaginians,  furnished 
almost  as  many  coins  as  it  yielded  skeletons. 
Whether  these  crowded  skeletons  represented  the 
period  of  some  dreadful  visitation  of  sickness,  such 
as  that  plague  which  swept  over  Carthage  in  the 
time  of  St.  Louis,  cannot  be  determined. 

Among  the  mixed  remains  of  Roman  walls  and 
heavy  masses  of  masonry,  appeared  a  kind  of 
obelisk  in  tufa,  upright,  and  apparently  in  its  original 
position.  There  was  little  doubt  that  this  mono- 
lith, appearing  as  it  did  in  the  midst  of  a  burial 
ground,  could  be  anything  but  a  funeral  stela,  and 
that  it  marked  the  spot  of  some  tomb  whose 
occupant  was  at  least  a  not  unimportant  person. 

The  trunk  pyramidal  and  the  base  cubic  in  form, 
this  is  but  one  example  of  rhany  such  funeral 
stelae  found  in  other  burial  areas ;  and  the  model 
of  miniature  copies  in  soft  white  stone  found  in  the 
tombs,  their  use  having  been  that  of  vessels  for 
burning  purfumes. 

The  tomb  over  which  this  obelisk  was  placed 
was  another  instance  of  the  heavy  solid  style  which 
characterized  the  true  Punic  masonry. 

In  an  upright  position,  against  the  huge  block  of 
stone  which  closed  the  entrance,  was  found  a  long 
funeral  amphora,  cylindrical  in  form,  with  conic 
base,  devoid  of  neck,  but  supplied  with  two  small 
handles.     The  weight  of  the  soil  had  quite  cracked 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.  LOUIS     103 

it,  and  in  the  attempt  to  remove  it,  it  fell  to  pieces, 
leaving  its  contents  to  escape.  These  were  com- 
posed, in  the  upper  part,  of  the  bones  of  an  adult 
and  those  of  a  child,  showing  no  trace  whatever  of 
cremation,  while  at  the  bottom  of  the  jar  were  the 
calcined  remains  of  another  child  accompanied  by 
a  drinking  vessel,  a  pot  blackened  by  the  action  of 
fire,  and  a  silver  ring.  This  was  almost  always 
the  way  in  which  the  ancient  Carthaginians  buried 
their  children  and  furnished  their  last  abode. 
Near  this  was  found  the  debris  of  a  broken  though 
fine  Greek  vase. 

The  tomb  itself,  however,  proved  to  have  been 
violated  long  before.  Indeed,  the  amphora  placed 
at  the  entrance  proves  that  it  was  as  far  back  as 
the  time  of  the  Carthaginians,  and  the  instances  of 
this  horrible  form  of  theft  have  been  proved  against 
them  again  and  again. 

It  enclosed  two  sarcophagi,  of  which  the  two 
covering  slabs  remained  in  place  only  on  one,  the 
second  sarcophagus  being  covered  only  with  one 
slab,  while  its  companion  lay  on  the  ground. 
Evidence  was  here  that  the  tomb  had  been  rifled 
in  haste,  and  the  remaining  parts  of  the  broken 
Greek  vase  met  with  outside  were  found  here 
within  the  tomb.  This  last  was  found  half  filled 
with  earth,  and  yielded  to  the  searchers  the 
following  remains — a  patera,  two  bronze  hatchets, 
a  bronze  handle,  a  small  red  earthen  jar,  a  small 
ivory  grotesque,  the  size  of  a  button,  a  fragment  of 
very  fine  yellow  sulphur,  and  several  fragments  of  a 
large  vase. 

But  it  was  not  in  these  large  stone  sepulchres  that 


104    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

the  most  interesting  finds  were  exclusively  dis- 
covered. In  the  simple  graves,  dug  in  the  clay,  sur- 
rounding the  more  pretentious  tombs,  necklaces  and 
objects  of  adornment  have  been  met  with  which 
were  composed  of  two  hundred  separate  parts, 
glass  beads  and  amulets  of  all  descriptions. 

Among  these  last  may  be  quoted  an  ivory  hand, 
a  ram's  head  apparently  carved  from  a  piece  of 
lava,  two  discs  surmounted  by  the  crescent,  the 
horns  abased,  the  most  popular  emblem  of  Carthage, 
two  crouching  lions  with  hieroglyphic  signs,  two 
urcei^  one  of  which  preserved  the  silver  wire  which 
served  to  suspend  it,  two  crocodiles,  three  sparrow- 
hawks,  six  elephants  or  hippopotami,  six  shells, 
four  cones,  eight  scarabaei,  of  which  six  have  hiero- 
glyphic subjects  engraved  on  their  surface,  eight 
cylinders,  eleven  heads  of  monsters,  which  at  first 
sight  might  be  taken  for  frogs  or  toads,  twenty-one 
divinities,  such  as  Bes,  Phthah,  Anubis,  Osiris,  Isis, 
etc.,  and  finally,  two  masks  surmounted  with  the 
crescents  with  horns  elevated  as  on  the  head  of 
Isis-Hathor.  One  is  reminded  by  these  horned 
masks  of  Baal  Kornain,  who  was  worshipped 
opposite  Carthage  on  the  summit  of  the  Bou- 
Khornine  or  two-horned  mountain,  which  of  late 
years  has  yielded  so  many  votive  stelae  dedicated 
to  Saturn,  surnamed  Balcaranensis,  or  in  other  words 
Horned  Baal. 


CHAPTER   XII 

Another  grave  of  the  simplest  description 
yielded  interesting  points  in  the  red-brown  tint  of 
the  inner  side  of  those  slabs  with  which  it  was 
closed.  They  had  the  appearance  of  having  been 
thus  coloured,  or  rather  discoloured,  with  blood. 

In  the  earth  with  which  this  grave  was  filled,  an 
animal's  rib  was  found,  and  at  the  foot  of  the 
skeleton,  a  patera  containing  the  usual  double- 
beaked  lamp,  blackened  with  use,  a  bronze  hatchet 
razor,  and  on  one  of  the  hand  bones  a  bronze  ring 
was  found  encircling  the  finger. 

Thus  the  Punic  Necropolis  of  the  Byrsa  reveals 

three  distinct  forms  of  burial,  which  are  in  many 

instances  so  mixed  together  in  the  closest  vicinity 

as  to  leave  little  doubt  that  at  any  rate  for  some 

certain  fixed  period  they  were  practised  together. 

These  were  represented  by  the  simple  graves  dug 

in  the  primitive  clay  and  covered  with  unworked 

slabs  of  tufa  ;  the  massive  stone  tombs,  sometimes 

of  sufficient  size  to  deserve  the  name  of  mausoleum, 

and  in  every  ca^e  characterized  by  the  most  solid 

style  of  masonry  ;  and  thirdly  and  lastly,  the  strange 

forms  of  infant  burial,  in  which  the  corpse  was 

inserted  into  an  urn,  amphora,  or  jar,  which  usually 

105 


io6    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

had  to  be  broken  first  to  admit  of  its  entrance,  and 
then  joined  together  again,  and  which,  found  usually 
in  a  horizontal  position  in  the  earth,  almost  without 
exception  contained  the  three  unvarying  accom- 
paniments of  a  drinking  vessel  or  bazzuola,  whose 
form  suggests  its  use  as  an  infant's  feeding  bottle, 
an  earthen  cooking  pot  blackened  beneath  by  the 
action  of  fire,  and  a  small  silver  ring. 

In  among  these  fundamental  types  are  found, 
in  sparse  numbers  it  is  true,  instances  of  cremation, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  upper  layer  of  mortality 
was  committed  to  the  dust  in  the  all-pervading 
urns,  that  cremation  had  established  itself  in  Car- 
thage in  any  sort  of  degree  of  regularity  and 
permanency. 

In  the  later  cemetery  of  Bord-el-Djedid  it  appears 
to  have  been  practised  interchangeably  with  inhu- 
mation, and  the  very  definite  and  interesting  reason 
for  this  will  be  dealt  with  in  the  course  of  describing 
that  Necropolis  which,  with  its  inscriptions  and 
richer  share  of  spoils,  is  perhaps  more  enlightening 
in  its  revelations  of  the  individual  characteristic  of 
its  citizens,  whose  long  sojourn  in  this  City  of  the 
Dead  has  by  no  means  effected  an  effacement  of 
personal  identity. 

Here  at  least  is  some  revenge  for  their  total 
effacement  as  a  nation ;  the  very  destroying  force 
which  wiped  their  city  from  off  the  face  of  the 
earth,  in  so  doing,  and  by  the  very  same  means, 
effected  the  most  admirable  preservation  of  perhaps 
the  most  instructive  section  of  the  corporate  whole. 

That  the  Punic  tombs  should  be  preserved  un- 
violated  until  the  age  and  epoch  most  cultured  and 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF   ST.   LOUIS     107 

fitted  to  appreciate  them,  could  scarcely  have  en- 
tered into  the  calculations  of  the  brutal  destroyers 
of  ancient  Carthage. 

Finally  there  remains  to  be  described  a  common 
grave,  an  unusual  occurrence, containing  the  remains 
of  forty  Carthaginians.  Two  hypotheses  present 
themselves.  An  epidemic  may  have  been  the 
cause  of  this  mixed  burial,  or,  as  seems  more 
probable  in  view  of  the  variety  and  diversity  in 
type  of  the  objects  contained  in  this  tomb,  it  may 
have  been  utilized  possibly  at  different  epochs. 

A  large  quantity  of  coins  yielded  themselves  in 
various  stages  of  preservation  or  corrosion.  As  for 
the  pottery,  the  greaterjpart  was  broken.  However, 
there  still  remained  in  good  condition  four  Punic 
lamps,  two  extremely  small  Greek  lamps,  eight 
dishes  with  handles,  five  bazzuoliy  ten  single-handled 
jars,  five  small  cooking  pots,  upwards  of  fifty  terra 
cotta  lachrymatories  or  unguentaria^  four  black 
earthen  paterae  of  Grecian  fabric — one  a  fineexample 
decorated  on  the  interior  with  tragic  masks  raised 
in  relief  and  arranged  in  a  circle — and  finally  four 
large  double-handled  vases. 

Bronze  was  here  represented  in  the  forms  of  a 
ring,  a  nail,  a  hatchet,  four  coffin  handles  and  a 
mirror,  and  other  miscellaneous  objects  came  to 
light  in  the  shape  of  an  iron  ring  with  an  agate 
bezel,  a  shell,  a  terra  cotta  sling  ball,  a  small  hand 
in  bone  or  ivory,  the  stone  cover  of  a  small  sarco- 
phagus, three  blue  glass  beads  and  fifty-four  bronze 
coins.  One  of  these  coins  found  placed  on  the  face 
of  the  corpse  had  given  a  green  tinge  to  the  skull 
as  a  result  of  its  oxidation. 


io8    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

Though  a  common  grave  was  not  a  common  find 
in  the  Necropoleis,  the  above-mentioned  example 
was  not  the  only  one  met  with.  The  corpses  were 
found  ranged  one  above  the  other,  as  many  as  four 
or  five  skulls  deep.  The  skeletons,  together  with 
the  clay  among  which  they  are  compacted,  form 
definite  strata,  and  are  so  closely  adhesive  as  to 
render  it  impossible  to  remove  the  one  from  the  other 
without  breaking  the  bones  absolutely  to  pieces. 

A  fragment  of  a  stele  from  Tello,  reproduced  by 
Mons.  Perrot,  represents  a  scene  of  the  inhumation 
of  a  number  of  corpses  in  a  common  grave,  similar 
to  that  found  at  Carthage ;  but  in  the  Chaldaean  bas- 
relief  the  corpses  are  arranged  sardine-wise,  the 
feet  of  one  side  by  side  with  the  head  of  another  in 
alternate  lines,  whilst  in  the  Byrsa  grave  all  the 
corpses  have  been  placed  in  the  same  position  with 
the  head  always  pointing  towards  the  centre  of  the 
hill. 

It  is,  however,  probable  that  though  buried  in  the 
same  grave  these  corpses  were  not  all  buried  at  the 
same  time.  Indeed  a  very  considerable  period 
would  seem  to  have  elapsed  between  the  depositing 
of  the  first  skeleton  and  the  last,  judging  by  the 
diverse  types  of  pottery  found  and  the  variety  of 
coins  ;  this  last,  the  infallible  test  of  time  limit  in 
the  assignment  of  dates. 

The  typical  Carthaginian  coin  is  a  bronze,  with 
the  Phoenician  horse  and  the  sacred  symbols  of  the 
solar  disc  enclosed  either  by  the  crescent  moon  or 
by  the  double  urceus  whose  inflated  heads  are 
possibly  closer  in  resemblance  to  the  leaves  of  the 
mistletoe  than  are  the  horns  of  the  crescent. 


THE   NECROPOLIS  OF  ST.   LOUIS     109 

The  reverse  bears  the  pleasing  classic  head  of 
Astarte,  the  artistic  emanation  of  a  Greek  taste, 
and  the  product  of  Sicily,  where  from  the  fifth 
century  B.C.  onwards,  Carthage,  it  is  believed,  was 
wont  to  have  her  coins  struck. 

The  form  of  the  horse  varies;  sometimes  it  is  a 
head  only,  sometimes  a  whole  animal  in  a  quiet 
pose ;  again  at  times  it  is  depicted  galloping  and 
occasionally  winged  like  its  Assyrian  prototype. 

Many,  of  course,  are  utterly  illegible  and  stuck 
together  in  a  green  lump  bythe  process  of  oxidation, 
but  there  are  again  other  examples  preserved  in 
practically  a  perfect  condition. 

Another  coin  bearing  the  head  of  Libya  is 
surrounded  by  the  inscription  BASIAE122  HTOAE- 
MAIOT,  while  the  reverse  bears  the  crowned  head  of 
Ptolemy. 

This  was  Ptolemy  II.  Philadelphus,  to  whom  we 
owe  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Bible  known  as 
the  Septuagint,  since,  at  the  suggestion  of  his 
Alexandrian  Librarian,  he  consented  to  send  an 
embassy  to  the  High  Priest  at  Jerusalem  praying 
that  six  ancient,  worthy  and  learned  men  from 
each  of  the  twelve  tribes  might  be  sent  to  translate 
the  law  for  him  at  Alexandria.  His  reign  was  from 
285  to  247  B.C. 

Another  coin  found  in  this  common  grave  has  a 
fine  head  of  Ares  crowned  with  laurels  and  turned 
to  the  right,  with  the  word  APE02  with  an  eagle 
on  the  reverse  and  the  inscription  MAMEPTINX2N. 
This  coin  therefore  belongs  to  the  money  of  the 
Mamertines  of  Sicily,  who  were  the  first  to  call  the 
Romans  to  their  aid  against  the  Carthaginians,  and 


no    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

this  became,  in  264,  the  cause  of  the  first  Punic  war, 
which  lasted  twenty-two  years. 

A  very  curious  statue  came  to  light  from  this 
Necropolis.  It  was  of  brick-red  terra  cotta,  and 
open  at  the  bottom,  it  was  found  to  be  completely 
hollow.  It  apparently  represents  the  goddess 
Tanith  seated  and  wearing  on  the  head  a  high 
crown  widening  towards  the  top,  shaped  somewhat 
like  a  bushel  measure  or  a  basket.  The  ears  have 
earrings  and  the  chest  is  covered  with  a  pectoral  or 
double  necklace.  The  robe,  folded  in  large  festoons 
below  the  knees,  develops  around  the  bust  and 
shoulders  in  the  form  of  a  disc  or  shell  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  reveal  the  upper  part  of  the  body 
while  completely  hiding  the  arms.  In  ancient 
Carthage  the  statue  of  the  goddess  Tanith  was 
draped  in  a  sumptuous  mantle  acquired  by  the 
citizens  at  the  price  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
talents.  Apparently  it  was  square  in  shape, 
purple-red  in  colour,  and  adorned  with  artistic 
embroideries.  In  the  centre  were  the  heads  of  the 
principal  deities  of  Greece ;  above  a  group  of  the 
animals  sacred  to  the  Susians,  and  below  those  of 
the  Persians,  while  in  the  corners  were  other 
figures,  among  which  was  the  portrait  of  Alcis- 
thenes,  the  rich  Sybarite  for  whose  personal  use 
this  marvellous  drapery  had  been  executed. 
Alcisthenes  parted  with  it  to  Denis  the  Elder,  who 
sold  it  again  to  the  Carthaginians  towards  the 
commencement  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.  On 
account  of  its  price,  rarity,  and  beauty,  the  Car- 
thaginians attached  to  this  veil  a  superstitious 
influence.     For  a  long  time  the  peplos  of  Tanith 


THE  NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS     in 

was  regarded  as  the  sovereign  palladium  of  the 
city. 

On  seeing  the  curious  and  elaborated  drapery  of 
the  little  terra  cotta,  one  wonders  whether  perhaps  the 
sculpture  is  intended  to  represent  this  rich  garment. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  dove  is  very 
peculiarly  an  emblem  of  Astarte — and  though 
representations  of  this  bird  are  rare  in  the  earlier 
tombs,  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  that  a  white 
earthen  bottle  or  jug  was  found  having  the  life- 
sized  form  of  a  dove,  with  an  arched  handle  which 
reached  from  the  tail  to  the  neck,  which  it  joined. 
The  liquid  was  poured  in  at  an  opening  of  funnel 
shape  on  the  tail,  and  poured  out  again  from  the 
bird's  beak. 

The  foregoing  comparative  description  of  the  two 
Necropoleis  of  Douimes  and  the  Byrsa  will  suffice 
to  show  the  reasons  on  which  are  founded  the  con- 
clusions as  touching  their  respective  ages.  While 
Doufmes  preserves  a  uniformly  simple  character  in 
the  mode  of  sepulture — a  mode  so  simple  as  almost 
to  resemble  the  types  known  as  pre-historic — the 
second  region  of  tombs  found  in  the  hill  where  the 
Cathedral  and  Convent  stand,  gives  a  very  clear 
demonstration  in  its  stratified  arrangement  of 
changing  and  transitory  forms  (simple  graves, 
mausoleums,  stone  tombs,  common  graves, 
amphoras,  urns  and  little  stone  coffers),  its  inhuma- 
tion and  its  cremation,  that  a  very  wide  period  was 
covered  by  the  time  taken  to  deposit  all  these 
varying  and  evolving  methods  in  their  respective 
layers  within  the  soil  beneath  the  Acropolis. 

It  likewise  shows  the  two  great  influences  by 


112     CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

which  Phoenician  art  and  indeed  Phoenician  worship 
came  to  be  dominated,  as  well  as  that  transitional 
period  when,  in  an  interval  of  respite,  Punic  Car- 
thage tried  to  assert  herself  and  satisfy  herself  with 
the  artistic  types  evolved  from  her  own  cont:eptions. 
Some  of  these  types  she  was  always  true  to,  and 
among  these  may  be  placed  in  the  front  rank  as 
real  specimens  of  her  own  inventive  art  her  Punic 
lamp,  formed  from  a  disc  of  clay  pinched  back  in 
three  places  to  form  two  beaks ;  her  curious  amphorae 
with  stems  instead  of  the  usual  base  in  the  shape  of 
an  inverted  cone,  found  chiefly  in  the  third  Necro- 
polis ;  and  lastly  and  most  chiefly  in  her  very 
curious  and  interesting  bronze  and  copper  Punic 
hatchet  razors  with  their  beautiful  and  delicate  in- 
scription of  Egyptian  forms  and  scenes,  and  their 
pleasing  slender  shape  terminating  in  the  head  and 
neck  of  a  swan. 

It  is  not  quite  certain  which  was  the  epoch  when 
coins  were  first  actually  introduced  :  their  presence 
is  not  very  far  removed  from  the  presence  of  crema- 
tion ;  but  it  is  probable  that  cremation  was  entirely 
a  Greek  importation,  and  that  the  practice  of 
depositing  coins  with  the  dead  was  certainly  an 
earlier  if  not  a  much  earlier  habit. 

Coming  thus  between  the  Egyptian  period  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  Greek  on  the  other,  this  area 
enclosed  perhaps  a  summing  up  of  what  may  be 
looked  upon  as  a  more  purely  and  individually 
Punic  epoch  than  either  of  the  other  two  cemeteries, 
the  one  preceding  and  the  other  following  it  in  the 
course  of  time. 

We  do  not  know  yet,  nor  can  we  quite  satisfac- 


[Seep.  167. 
GREEK  AND  ETRUSCAN   POTTERY   {Bord-el-Djedid) 


THE  NECROPOLIS  OF  ST.   LOUIS     113 

torily  guess  the  reason  for  that  strong  Egyptian 
colouring  which  was  shed  upon  the  earliest  Carthage 
and  which  evidently  permeated  her  daily  life. 
Possibly  commerce  may  have  originated  this  adop- 
tion, or  shall  we  call  it  embracing,  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Nile  in  art  and  worship — but  the  truth  will 
suffer  less  perhaps  from  being  left  in  abeyance  than 
from  an  undue  straining  after  an  answer  to  the 
riddle  before  such  time  as  the  true  CEdipus  arrives, 
when  the  Sphinx  will  no  doubt  prove  powerless  to 
retain  her  secret. 

The  excavations,  still  in  progress,  will  undoubt- 
edly yield  a  similar  proportion  of  information  and 
material  in  the  future  as  they  have  hitherto  done 
in  the  past,  and  will  continue  to  take  their  part  in 
the  building  up  of  a  perfect  whole,  and  in  the 
telling  of  the  story  of  Punic  Carthage  in  the  light 
of  modern  research. 

We  have  now  to  leave  the  Cathedral  Hill,  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Acropolis,  and  the  spot  where 
St.  Louis  died,  having  acquainted  ourselves 
sufficiently  with  typical  examples  of  the  mode  of 
burial  in  the  middle  period  of  Punic  Carthaginian 
history. 

The  third  Necropolis  to  be  investigated  enters 
upon  a  new  era,  more  sumptuous,  more  civilized, 
more  artistic  as  a  whole,  but  without  any  immediate 
or  abrupt  change,  nor  pronounced  line  of  demarca- 
tion, separating  the  third  epoch  from  the  second. 
Nothing  but  a  perfectly  unbroken  continuity  shows 
itself  through  the  system  or  group  of  Necropoleis 
the  description  of  which  has  been  undertaken  in 
this  small  work.     Nothing,  we  believe,  points  to  the 

H 


114    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

conclusion  that  there  was  a  period  of  the  Punic  civic 
life,  unrepresented  here,  at  least  by  the  remains  of 
those  people  who  took  part  in  it  and  by  whose  cor- 
porate presence  it  alone  existed  and  took  life.  We 
may  look  then,  we  believe,  upon  this  great  company 
of  witnesses,  these  hundreds  and  thousands  who 
joined  the  great  majority  so  long  ago,  as  so  many 
pages  of  an  intricate  paHmpsest,  holding  the  truth 
before  our  eyes,  ready  for  us  to  read  the  unbroken 
story,  if  only  we  can  disentangle  it  from  the 
bewildering  superscriptions  and  the  ruthless  damage 
which  the  ages  have  accomplished,  the  irreparable 
effacement  wrought  so  uncompromisingly,  not 
only  by  the  relentless  Roman  rivals,  but  by  that 
unceasing  spirit  of  destruction  embodied  in  Arab 
flesh  and  blood. 

Happily,  against  this  system  of  perpetual  destruc- 
tion has  been  arrayed  at  last  a  methodic  process  of 
arrestation,  late  in  time,  alas,  but  unspeakably 
valuable,  and,  in  spite  of  all  deterrents,  full  of  hope. 
During  the  last  twenty  years,  since  Cardinal 
Lavigerie  first  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  there  has 
been  no  looking  back  ;  Elijah's  mantle  fell  on  the 
shoulders  of  Elisha,  and  the  work  continues  and 
lives  with  a  definite  purpose  and  definite  results. 

So  much  has  been  done  already  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  place  a  limit  to  that  which  may  yet  be 
accomplished,  nor  the  light  which  may  come  to 
shine  upon  the  Punic  origins  of  Carthage. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A  SUBTERRANEAN  group  of  tombs  which  exist 
beneath  a  hill  known  as  Gamart  or  Kamart  at 
the  north-north-east,  terminating  the  Carthaginian 
peninsula,  having  occupied  at  various  times  a 
good  deal  of  attention  from  many  noted  archaeolo- 
gists of  different  nations,  it  may  be  well  here  to 
sum  up  briefly  that  which  is  now  known  and  the 
conclusions  which  have  resulted  from  the  excava- 
tion of  this  site  and  the  observations  made  by  the 
White  Fathers. 

A  part  of  the  hill  which  bears  the  name  of 
Djebel-Khaoui,  or  Hollow  Mountain,  on  account 
of  the  subterranean  sepulchres  it  contains,  and 
which  have  passed  for  a  long  time,  in  the  eyes  of 
many  archaeologists,  for  the  Punic  Necropolis  of 
Carthage,  appears,  however,  to  offer  the  very 
strongest  reason  for  assigning  a  different  inter- 
pretation to  its  presence,  use  and  origin. 

The  funeral  chambers  are  met  with  chiefly  near 
the  summit  of  the  hill,  hollowed  out  from  the  soft 
limestone  beneath  a  harder  layer  above,  which 
serves  for  their  roof. 

Half-a-century  ago  they  were  noticed  by  Falbe, 
the    author    of  Recherches    sur   V emplace^nent  de 

115 


ii6    CARTHAGE  OF   THE   PHOENICIANS 

Carthage^  and  later  mentioned  by  Dr.  Barth, 
then  excavated  by  Dr.  Davis,  MM.  Beul^  de 
Sainte  Marie  and  d'Hdrisson,  with  the  following 
results — 

Falbe  scarcely  recognized  the  existence  of  a 
necropolis.  He  speaks  simply  of  having  found  at 
Gamart  "  vestiges  of  tombs  in  a  red-clay  quarry " 
and  of  having  penetrated  "  through  a  hole  into  a 
small  sepulchral  chamber  whose  walls  were  pierced 
with  niches  for  depositing  the  dead." 

Dr.  Davis  was  the  first  to  excavate  this  spot, 
and  has  related  the  result  of  his  work  in  his  book 
entitled  Carthage  and  her  Remains, 

After  speaking  of  the  difficulty  and  disappoint- 
ment in  digging  into  this  hill,  he  tells  how  at  last 
they  came  upon  a  chamber  apparently  without 
niches,  but  which  after  careful  examination  ap- 
peared to  have  been  blocked  up  with  cement 
which  distinctly  retained  the  imprint  of  the  work- 
man's hands.  "  On  one  of  the  niches,"  he  says, 
"  we  noticed  the  picture  of  a  candlestick  with  seven 
branches,  and  on  another  the  letters  A  P.  The 
eight  others  had  nothing  at  all.  We  pierced  the 
thin  covering  of  cement  and  found  the  skeleton 
just  as  it  had  been  placed  there.  It  was  the 
colour  of  coffee  and  fell  to  dust  at  the  least  touch. 

"  In  the  vicinity  of  this  room  we  found  others 
which  were  empty,  and  by  chance  we  found  one 
or  two  receptacles  still  occupied.  On  examina- 
tion we  found  traces  proving  that  they  had  been 
occupied  once,  and  that  the  fragile  cement  had 
been  broken  on  purpose  and  the  skeleton  removed. 
The   fragments   of  cement  still   adhering  to   the 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.  LOUIS     117 

opening  led  us  to  this  conclusion.  But  the  question 
is,  whether  we  must  attribute  this  spoliation  to 
man  endowed  with  reason,  or  to  the  irrational 
hyena. 

"  Those  who  originally  bored  through  these  hills 
in  order  to  deposit  their  dead  here,  had  no  doubt 
protected  these  places  from  the  encroachments  of 
animals.  And  when  those  who  were  interested 
could  no  longer  guard  nor  protect  them,  the  cata- 
combs became  the  refuge  and  abode  of  wild  beasts. 
But  at  this  time  the  greater  part  of  the  human 
remains  deposited  here  had  ceased  to  be  the  bait 
of  those  beasts  known  to  ravage  cemeteries.  The 
spoliation  of  the  Necropolis  of  Gamart  must  then 
be  attributed  to  man. 

"  The  vast  extent  of  these  catacombs  indicates 
that  they  must  have  been  connected  with  the 
population  of  a  large  city,  such  as  the  city  of  Punic 
Carthage,  which  counted  seven  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants  at  the  time  of  her  destruction." 

He  goes  on  to  notice  that  the  practice  of  crema- 
tion in  use  in  Pagan  Rome  precluded  the  possibility 
of  this  being  a  Roman  cemetery.  With  regard  to 
the  representation  of  the  Seven-branched  Golden 
Candlestick,  he  says  that  it  undoubtedly  repre- 
sented the  Golden  Candlestick  belonging  to  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem,  but  finds  the  explanation  in 
the  Vandal  occupation  of  Africa  Proper. 

"  We  know,"  he  says,  "  that  Geneseric  during  the 
eighteen  days  of  the  sacking  of  Rome  took  away, 
among  other  objects  of  value,  the  Golden  Table 
and  the  Seven-branched  Candlestick  which  had 
been  originally  made  after  the  instructions  of  God 


ii8     CARTHAGE  OF   THE  PHCENICIANS 

Himself.  At  the  triumph  of  Titus  these  sacred 
ornaments  were  paraded  with  ostentation  before 
the  eyes  of  the  Roman  people  and  then  deposited 
in  the  Temple  of  Peace. 

**  After  four  centuries  the  product  of  the  pillage 
of  Jerusalem  was  transported  from  Rome  to 
Carthage.  That  the  people  who  professed  respect 
for  the  Holy  Scriptures  should  show  veneration  for 
such  a  relic  as  the  Golden  Candlestick  it  is  quite 
natural  to  suppose.  We  have  found  it  on  several 
terra-cotta  lamps,  and  here  we  have  it  in  the  cata- 
combs. Surely  they  would  not  have  adopted  such 
a  symbol  by  chance. 

"The  complete  absence  of  lamps  and  other 
accompaniments  of  Pagan  sepulture  tends  to 
confirm  that  the  remains  here  found  belong  to  the 
Christian  era. 

"  In  one  niche  only,  and  at  a  distance  from  those 
we  have  mentioned,  we  found  a  small  jar  and  a 
glass  lachrymatory,  besides  a  number  of  rusty 
nails."  He  sums  up  by  saying  that  the  results  of 
these  investigations  did  not  proportionately  recom- 
pense the  expense,  and  that  they  must  content 
themselves  with  knowing  that  catacombs  exist 
there,  and  that  they  embrace  a  circumference  of 
about  four  miles,  that  they  were  of  Punic  origin, 
and  that  Carthage  on  becoming  Christian  used 
them  afterwards  for  herself. 

"  That  which  likewise  gives  these  catacombs  an 
oriental  and  Punic  character,  is  that  there  are 
found  on  diverse  points  of  Djebel-Khaoui  round 
holes  hollowed  in  the  rock.  They  must  have 
served  to  collect  water   to  refresh  the  soul,  which, 


THE  NECROPOLIS  OF  ST.  LOUIS     119 

it  was  believed,  hovered  above  the  spot  of  the 
burial  of  its  body.  This  superstition  still  exists 
to-day,  as  may  be  seen  in  Jewish  cemeteries  in  the 
East." 

The  testimony  of  M.  Beul6  shows  that  the  whole 
mountain  is  undermined  by  thousands  of  sepulchres 
and  millions  of  tombs,  but  that  the  earth  has 
covered  over  the  stairs,  the  doors  and  the  venti- 
lating shafts,  and  that  it  was  only  on  examining 
attentively  the  surface  of  the  ground  that  he 
discovered  here  and  there  under  the  tufts  of  fennel 
and  acanthus  an  opening  by  which  it  was  possible 
to  slip  in.  He  penetrated  into  a  rectangular 
chamber,  the  walls  of  which  were  riddled  with 
holes  of  sufficient  depth  to  contain  a  corpse. 

Dust,  rain  and  other  infiltrations  had  affected 
three-quarters  of  the  depth  of  this  chamber,  being 
filled  with  earth,  so  that  it  became  necessary  not 
only  to  walk  in  a  stooping  position  but  more  often 
to  crawl. 

He  was  the  first  to  mention  a  curious  point 
regarding  the  position  of  this  Necropolis,  which 
was  that  it  lay  on  the  side  of  the  hill  the  furthest 
removed  from  Carthage,  facing  the  ancient  Utica 
and  the  high  seas,  a  fact  which  reminded  him  of 
the  custom  of  the  Jews,  whose  law  forbade  them  to 
bury  their  dead  within  the  city  walls.  He  also 
noted  that  the  disposition  of  these  tombs,  which 
appeared  to  follow  an  immutable  rule,  accorded 
with  the  mode  of  burial  of  the  Old  Testament  in 
such  instances  as  the  tombs  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Ishmael  and  Jacob.  He  therefore  concludes  that 
the  custom  of  the  Semites  of  Palestine  was  an 


120    CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

absolute  law  among  the  Semites  of  Carthage. 
The  caves  were  originally  closed  by  the  aid  of  a 
stone  like  the  tombs  of  Lazarus  and  our  Lord,  and 
the  niches  in  the  walls  hollowed  out  to  receive  the 
corpse  have  been  decribed  as  "  Coffin  ovens  "  whose 
prototypes  have  been  found  in  the  valley  of 
Hinnom.  He  likewise  notices  the  very  fine  hard 
stucco,  extremely  white  and  highly  polished,  with 
which  the  caves  are  plastered,  and  which  reminded 
him  very  naturally  of  the  whited  sepulchres  to 
which  our  Lord  compared  the  Pharisees.  He 
tells  how  he  searched  in  vain  for  paintings  or 
inscriptions,  finding  none. 

MM.  Sainte  Marie  and  Hdrisson  next  atacked 
this  site,  but  with  less  fortunate  results  than  the 
foregoing  writers,  and  it  then  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  White  Fathers  in  the  following  manner. 

An  orphanage  founded  by  Cardinal  Lavigerie 
exists  at  Carthage  for  the  care  and  training  of 
negro  children,  many  of  whom  have  in  due 
course  qualified  for  medicine,  and  have  rendered 
valuable  missionary  services  in  Equatorial  Africa. 
Some  of  these  little  negroes  were  walking  over  the 
mountain  of  Gamart  one  day  when  they  noticed 
some  Arabs  on  the  point  of  destroying  a  subter- 
ranean construction  in  order  to  extract  the  lime- 
stone. After  having  destroyed  those  caves  which 
were  easy  of  access,  they  had  reached  some  which 
were  more  hidden  under  the  gronnd.  One  of  these 
last  retained,  above  four  of  its  niches,  some  inscrip- 
tions traced  in  the  stucco  with  which  the  cave  was 
plastered.  The  little  negroes  who  had  often 
helped  in  these  searches  had  acquired  a  taste  for 


THE  NECROPOLIS  OF  ST.  LOUIS     121 

antiquities  and  had  frequently  picked  up  fragments 
of  inscriptions  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Christian 
cemeteries;  therefore,  when  they  came  across  the 
well-known  formula  In  Pace^  they  immediately 
recognized  it  and  hastened  to  communicate  their 
find  to  the  Father  Director,  who  the  next  day 
commenced  a  fuller  investigation. 

The  structure  was  half  destroyed  when  he 
arrived,  but  above  the  loculi  which  remained  he 
was  able  to  read  the  following  inscriptions: — LlC- 
EN  I  A— LUC  I   INPACE—lVSTFINPACEf 

Above  the  fourth  coffin  niche  was  another  but 
undecipherable  inscription.  The  adjoining  chamber 
contained,  strewed  on  the  floor,  the  bones  of 
animals  brought  here  by  the  jackals  and  hyenas 
who  for  centuries  had  converted  these  tombs  or 
catacombs  into  a  retreat  They  were  likewise  so 
filled  up  with  earth  and  so  dark  as  to  render  it  not 
only  necessary  to  be  furnished  with  torches,  but 
also  to  crawl  full  length  along  the  ground. 

R  VG  VE  IN  PA  CE  accompanied  by  a  seven- 
branched  candlestick,  and  further  on,  GAIVS — 
ARNESVS  IN  PACE—  ASTEINEP ACE, 
were  among  some  of  the  inscriptions  found,  and 
such  names  as  Colomba,  Fortunatia,  Sidonius, 
Alexander,  likewise  revealed  themselves.  The 
scarcity  of  inscriptions  found  is  no  doubt  due  to 
the  falling  away  of  the  plastering  on  which  they 
were  engraved.  Many  there  were  too  which  were 
quite  illegible,  but  on  a  fragment  of  marble  picked 
up  it  was  interesting  to  read  in  Hebrew  characters 
the  single  word  Chalom,  signifying  peace. 

The  complete  absence  of  ornamentation  in  so 


122    CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

many  of  the  chambers  accords  well  with  Jewish 
practice,  and  their  interpretation  of  the  Second 
Commandment.  To  this  rule,  however,  there  is  a 
notable  exception  in  the  remaining  portions  of  a 
painted  ceiling  which  retains  traces  of  red-and- 
green  colouring,  and  a  cornice  decorated  with 
festoons  and  a  vase ;  and  another  instance  was 
a  ceiling  of  stucco  in  relief  painted  and  enclosed 
in  two  frames  of  rectangular  moulding.  One 
encloses  a  horseman,  the  other  an  upright  figure 
near  a  tree. 

The  remains  of  a  frieze  were  next  met  with 
giving  details  of  a  vintage  scene.  On  one  side  may 
be  distinguished  men  carrying  amphoras  of  Roman 
form  and  arranging  them  upright  in  order,  and  on 
the  other  side  the  upright  form  of  a  woman  near  a 
circular  vat.  Two  people  are  coming  towards  her, 
one  on  foot  and  one  on  horseback. 

A  very  singular  feature  of  this  Necropolis  is  the 
presence  of  square  and  circular  holes  found  on  the 
surface  of  the  rock  above  the  tombs  which,  though 
they  are  hollowed  down  to  various  depths,  never 
reach  the  ceiling  of  the  caves  below. 

Diverse  hypotheses  have  been  offered  by  various 
observers  as  concerning  their  use. 

Dr.  Davis,  as  has  already  been  noted,  believed 
them  to  be  destined  to  gather  the  rain  as  it  fell, 
wherewith  to  refresh  the  souls  of  the  dead,  a  usage 
which  he  attributed  to  the  customs  of  the  Eastern 
Jews.  M.  Beule  sees  in  these  holes  receptacles  for 
water  to  quench  the  thirst  of  birds  such  as  is  seen 
on  certain  modern  tombs  in  the  East.  Others, 
again,  have  thought  that  they  must  have  served  to 


THE   NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.  LOUIS     123 

fix  some  exterior  monument  such  as  a  pyramid  or 
obelisk,  but  this  was  not  the  custom  among  the 
Jews,  even  on  the  tombs  of  their  kings. 

Another  opinion  was  that  they  were  used  to  fix 
tent-poles  to  shelter  the  relatives  and  friends  who 
on  certain  days  were  in  the  habit  of  praying  on  the 
tombs,  a  custom  which  continues  to  exist  among 
the  Jews  of  Tunis. 

It  will  therefore  appear  that  the  balance  of 
probability  is  in  favour  of  the  supposition  as  to 
the  Jewish  character  of  these  catacombs  which  for 
so  long  were  taken  to  be  the  one  true  Punic 
Necropolis  of  Carthage.  The  formula  In  Pace 
was  primitively  common  to  Jew  and  Christian 
alike. 

Fuller  investigations  have  considerably  modified 
the  supposed  dimensions  of  this  cemetery.  The 
four  miles  of  Dr.  Davis'  approximation  and  the 
thousands  of  sepulchral  chambers  and  millions  of 
tombs  of  M.  Beuld's  computation  have  proved  to 
possess  no  demonstrable  basis  on  the  closer 
scrutiny  of  those  working  continually  on  the  spot. 

The  two  principal  historic  emigrations  of 
Israelites  before  the  Christian  era  were  those 
which  took  place,  the  one  following  the  taking  of 
Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  the  other  at 
the  time  of  the  building  of  the  city  of  Alexandria 
by  Alexander  the  Great.  On  each  of  these 
occasions  it  is  known  that  the  Jews  settled  in 
Egypt,  and  it  is  probable  that  a  certain  number 
settled  in  the  principal  ports  of  the  Mediterranean 
coast.  Thousands  of  Jews  settled  at  Rome  in  the 
time  of  Augustus,  and  their  cemetery,  like  that  of 


124    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

Gamart,  is  composed  of  subterranean  chambers, 
retaining  the  emblem  of  the  Seven -branched  Candle- 
stick and  remains  of  Hebrew  epitaphs. 

The  Mediterranean,  the  great  commercial  high- 
way which  led  the  Tyrians  to  Utica  and  then  to 
Carthage,  may  well  have  conveyed  detachments  of 
Jews  to  the  opulent  city,  either  on  those  occasions 
of  emigration  already  alluded  to,  or  else  at  the  time 
of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus  in  the  year 
70.  Otherwise  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  an 
explanation  for  the  presence  of  so  many  thousands 
of  Jews  in  North  Africa  to-day.  The  city  of  Tunis, 
which  succeeded  Carthage  as  the  capital  of  the 
country  of  Tunis,  the  Africa  of  the  ancients, 
contains  no  less  than  thirty-five  thousand,  and 
there  are  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  in  the 
Regency.  Jerusalem  was  no  doubt  in  relation  with 
Carthage  at  the  time  of  the  Pentecost,  for  among 
the  multitudes  addressed  by  the  Apostles  were 
some  inhabitants  of  Libya.  Now,  by  the  name  of 
Libya  was  understood  the  land  situated  to  the 
west  of  Egypt,  thus  including,  at  least  in  the! 
common  acceptation  of  the  term,  Carthage.  I 

It  appears  that  the  Jewish  Necropolis  of  Rome 
described  by  P.  Garucci  contains,  like  that  of 
Gamart,  decorations  in  which  figure  men,  women, 
animals  and  genii,  objects  generally  believed  to  be 
banned  by  Mosaic  custom.  Here,  then,  falls  the 
only  real  objection  which  could  possibly  be  urged 
against  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  Pere  Delattre 
as  to  the  Jewish  and  solely  Jewish  character  of 
this  construction. 

Dr.   Davis   and   M.    Beule,   accurate    in    their 


THE  NECROPOLIS   OF  ST.   LOUIS     125 

observations,  were  no  doubt  misled  in  their 
deductions,  but  it  must  be  remembered  on  their 
behalf  that  the  true  Punic  cemeteries  had  not  then 
been  found,  and  every  explorer  would  naturally  be 
ultra-disposed  to  see  clues  and  traces  of  that  which 
he  was  most  earnestly  anxious  to  find. 


PART    III 

THE    NECROPOLIS    OF    BORD-EL-DJEDID 

CHAPTER    XIV 

In  the  Tunisian  Pavilion  of  the  Paris  Exhibition 
of  1889  there  appeared  on  view  a  beautiful  large 
square  of  mosaic  from  Carthage,  representing,  with 
their  names,  the  four  seasons,  and  the  twelve 
months  of  the  year  represented  by  figures.  This 
was  discovered  very  near  the  house  of  a  certain 
Sidi-Mahomed-ben-Mustapha-Khasnadar.  Eight 
years  later,  again  in  this  same  vicinity,  a  second 
and  very  important  discovery  was  made,  being 
nothing  less  than  the  richest  Punic  cemetery  of 
Carthage,  in  the  region  of  a  hill  situated  between 
the  battery  called  Bord-el-Djedid  and  the  Chapelle 
de  Sainte  Monique  belonging  to  the  Carmelite 
Sisters.  The  side  of  the  hill  forming  a  cliff  next 
the  sea  in  the  north-north-easterly  direction  was 
originally  one  of  the  terminating  points  of  the 
ancient  city  wall  of  Carthage,  which  was  originally 
composed  of  the  three  regions  known  as  the 
Byrsa  or  Acropolis,  Magalia  or  the  outer  belt 
enclosed   within   a  second   wall,   and   Cothon,   or 

126 


NECROPOLIS    OF    BORD-EL-DJEDID     127 

the  region  near  the  coast,  comprising  the  quay 
and  the  commercial  position  generally,  of  the 
Punic  city. 

Towards  the  end  of  November  1897  M* 
C^l^ri6,  Guardian  of  the  Battery,  in  having  a 
trench  dug  for  sand,  came  across  traces  of  Punic 
sepulture,  and  on  investigating  still  further,  more 
evidence  came  to  light  of  the  presence  of  an 
ancient  Carthaginian  cemetery.  Happily  Sidi- 
Mahomed,  the  son  of  the  late  above-mentioned 
Khasnadar,  had  already  invited  the  Fathers  to 
investigate  his  land  with  a  view  to  excavating. 
He  now  on  their  behalf  signed  an  act  of  location 
in  the  name  of  his  wife,  the  Princess  Khasnadar, 
engaging  for  a  certain  fixed  sum  to  permit  excava- 
tions throughout  the  extent  of  his  property.  This 
act,  together  with  another  which  it  was  necessary  to 
obtain  from  the  military  authorities,  and  some 
financial  encouragement  from  the  Academic  des 
Inscriptions,  rendered  it  possible  to  attack  the 
situation  in  question  with  a  clear  and  unimpeded 
spirit.  The  contracts  were  signed  on  the  4th  of 
the  following  January,  and  the  next  day  the  work 
was  commenced. 

The  cemetery  is  formed  of  hundreds  of  grave 
pits  hollowed  in  the  hillside,  as  close  together  as 
possible,  and  resembling  a  great  beehive  whose 
cells  are  sunk  deep  into  the  rock.  In  one  instance, 
to  arrive  at  a  lower  tomb  it  was  necessary  to 
descend  twenty-two  metres,  and  in  another  twenty- 
five  metres  had  to  be  passed  before  coming 
to  the  deepest  grave. 

In  most  cases  these   funeral   chambers   contain 


128    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

two  pits  or  graves  divided  by  a  sort  of  embank- 
ment, on  which  usually  is  found  the  crumbling 
remains  of  a  skeleton,  and  the  shreds  of  rotten 
wood  and  oxidized  copper  nails  which  indicate 
the  former  presence  of  a  coffin.  There  are  few, 
if  any,  objects  of  common  use  which  have  under- 
gone less  change  in  form  than  these  copper 
nails.  Except  for  the  vivid  and  beautiful  green 
of  their  oxidation  they  might  well  have  been 
purchased  yesterday  from  the  ironmonger.  Some 
have  heads  of  hemispheric  form  washed  with  gold, 
but  I  have  seen  some  of  the  flat-headed  type 
known,  I  believe,  commercially  as  clout  nails. 
Some  very  large-sized  nails  seem  to  suggest  the 
sinister  use  of  crucifixion  suffered  by  criminals 
and  animals  alike,  not  to  mention  the  defeated 
generals  who,  returning  from  battle  unvictorious, 
knew  that  the  shame  and  pain  of  the  cross 
unfailingly  awaited  them. 

The  process  of  burial  in  the  side  graves  presents 
some  rather  peculiar  features.  The  skeleton  is  in  a 
very  great  number  of  cases  found  lying  upon  and 
supported  by  a  layer  of  vases,  urns  and  jars,  which, 
lying  in  a  horizontal  position,  completely  cover  the 
whole  extent  of  the  grave,  and  which,  in  their 
turn,  overlie  a  second  skeleton  lying  right  at  the 
bottom.  Sometimes  one  grave  and  one  embank- 
ment composed  the  interior  plan  of  the  cell,  and 
the  variations  from  the  above-mentioned  type  are 
as  numerous  as  one  would  suppose  to  be  the 
case  in  a  cemetery  which  gives  evidence  of  having 
served  its  purpose  for  three  hundred  years,  i,  e, 
from  the  fifth  to  the  second  century  B.C. 


^■S 


NECROPOLIS    OF    BORD-EL-DJEDID     129 

As  to  the  contents,  the  chief  differences  at  first 
noted  by  the  excavators  to  exist  between  the 
present  and  former  earlier  types,  existed  severally 
in  the  cases  of  the  bicorn  lamp,  which  was  here 
found  to  have  developed  a  disc-like  base,  to  be  much 
smaller  in  size,  together  with  its  patera,  and  to 
have  edges  which  curved  over  and  closed  up  the 
centre  to  a  greater  extent,  and  to  be  at  times 
decorated  with  painting.  In  addition  to  these 
characteristics  they  are  here  found  side  by  side 
with  Greek  lamps,  a  coincidence  which  never  once 
occurred  in  the  more  primitive  tombs.  The  curious 
amphorae  with  stems  instead  of  the  usual  conic  base 
are  again  characteristic  of  the  tombs  of  the  last 
Punic  period,  and  the  drinking  vases,  which  were 
entirely  absent  from  the  cemetery  of  Douimes, 
and  only  represented  in  that  of  St.  Louis  by  the 
curious  bazzuoli  placed  in  the  funeral  urns  of 
infants,  are  here  found  to  occur  in  frequent  numbers. 
Another  unique  possession  of  this  necropolis  is 
the  curious  collection  of  ivory  and  bone  objects 
resembling  the  bridges  of  string  instruments.  The 
Egyptian  influence  by  no  means  entirely  disappears, 
though  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  cease  to  appear 
and  the  curious  gold  and  silver  earrings  forming 
the  Egyptian  tau  are  no  longer  found,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  Punic  inscriptions  on  stone  reveal 
themselves  in  increasing  number  and  length,  and 
the  simultaneous  practice  of  cremation  and  inhuma- 
tion is  at  last  found  to  have  unequivocally 
established  itself.  In  the  course  of  digging  down 
to  reach  the  tombs  below,  the  interesting  and 
somewhat   important    discovery  was    made    of   a 


130      CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

Punic  inscription,  the  longest  hitherto  found, 
engraved  in  very  fine  characters  on  a  plaque  of 
whitish  stone,  composed  of  nine  lines  and  enclosed 
in  a  cartouche  formed  by  a  raised  rim  or  beading 
which  framed  the  front  side  of  the  stone.  It 
proved  to  be  a  votive  offering  to  Ashtoreth  and 
Tanith  of  Lebanon — unfortunately  it  is  incomplete. 

MM.  de  Vogiie,  Philippe  Berger  and  Clermont- 
Ganneau  have  all  studied  it,  and  the  conclusion 
arrived  at  by  the  latter  seems  to  show  that  it 
belongs  to  the  epoch  when  Carthage  was  inde- 
pendent, and  is  a  dedication  to  Ashtoreth  and 
Tanith  of  Lebanon,  of  two  new  sanctuaries  and 
their  entire  contents,  and  gives  an  enumeration, 
unfortunately  incomplete,  of  objects,  manufactured 
and  sculptured,  of  sacred  vessels,  possibly  those  of 
the  altars  placed  before  the  sanctuaries  and  used  in 
the  ceremonial  ritual,  and  it  finishes  with  a  date 
indicated  by  the  name  of  the  month  of  Higar  and 
the  names  of  the  magistrates.  Their  list  is  long 
and  apparently  arranged  in  hierarchic  order. 

First  come  the  Suffetes,  supreme  magistrates  of 
the  city ;  then  persons  simply  designated  by  the 
title  Rab^  members  no  doubt  of  the  Senate ;  then 
the  high  priests,  sons  themselves  and  grandsons  of 
high  priests ;  lastly,  a  magistrate  whose  function 
remains  to  be  determined. 

The  inscription  commences  with  these  words,  "  To 
the  Goddess  Ashtoreth  and  to  the  Goddess  Tanith 
of  Lebanon,  two  new  sanctuaries."  This  is  a 
sufficiently  interesting  commencement,  and  reveals 
an  unexpected  fact,  since  up  till  that  moment  it  was 
usual   to   confound   Ashtoreth   with   Tanith.      M 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      131 

Philippe  Berger  advances  the  suggestion  that  these 
two  divinities  might  correspond  with  Demeter  and 
Persephone,  that  is  to  say,  Ceres  and  Proserpina. 

The  inscription  goes  on  to  enumerate  the  con- 
tents of  these  sanctuaries  and  all  things  pertaining 
to  them — columns  and  sculptures,  works  in  gold, 
stairs,  steps,  barriers  or  enclosing  walls,  etc. 

Mons.  Clermont-Ganneau  fills  in  the  gaps  of 
the  text  and  makes  the  first  part  to  read  thus — 

"And  in  like  manner  they"  (the  people  of 
Carthage)  "have  surrounded  with  an  enclosure 
the  Chomerat  (or  the  Chomerots)  in  order  to 
(protect)  the  hill  of  .  .  ." 

From  the  fifth  line  he  goes  on  to  decipher 
thus — 

"And  the  expense  has  been  entirely  borne 
by  the  people  of  Carthage  from  the  greatest  to 
the  least.  Made  in  the  month  of  Haijar,  the 
Suffetes  being  Abd-el-Melkart  and  .  .  ."  Here 
the  name  of  the  second  Sufifete  is  missing.  The 
Carthaginian  year  was  indicated  by  the  name 
of  the  supreme  magistrates  or  SufTetes  in  charge, 
just  as  later  on  the  Roman  year  was  designated 
by  the  names  of  the  two  consuls. 

At  the  sixth  line  M.  Clermont-Ganneau  reads — 

"  The  Suffetes  being  Chophet  and  Hanno " — 
and  here  the  learned  epigraphist  finds  cause  for 
rejoicing,  for  he  takes  it  that  there  are  here  two 
dates  given  which  he  looks  upon  as  forming  the 
first  step  in  Punic  chronology,  since  for  the  first 
time  it  is  possible  to  establish,  at  an  unknown 
distance  it  is  true,  two  suffetic  years  in  relative 
order.     The  rest  of  the  inscription  names  civil  and 


132     CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHOENICIANS 

religious  functionaries  in  charge  during  the  con- 
struction of  the  two  sanctuaries. 

First  comes  the  Rab  Abd-el-Melkart,  son  of 
Magon,  who  possibly  may  be  identified  with  the 
chief  of  the  famous  Council  of  the  Hundred,  who 
administered  the  affairs  of  Carthage.  The  other 
persons  named  on  the  stone  are  Azrubaal,  son  of 
Chophet  the  High  Priest,  which  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  function  was  hereditary ;  then, 
lastly,  a  person  of  the  name  of  Akboram,  son  of 
Hannibaal,  whom  M.  Clermont-Ganneau  takes  to 
be  a  master  builder  and  M.  Philippe  Berger  a 
questor. 

The  last-mentioned  savant  was  of  opinion  that 
the  stone  had  been  found  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Temple  of  Ceres,  and  subsequent  discoveries 
would  seem  to  have  added  strength  to  his  surmise. 


CHAPTER  XV 

In  the  course  of  excavating  this  spot  there  next 
came  to  light  the  stumps  of  fluted  columns  of  Nu- 
midian  marble  and  other  architectural  fragments, 
likewise  of  marble  and  of  a  beautiful  style,  such  as 
bases  and  capitals,  cornices  and  pilasters,  and 
numerous  fragments  of  inscriptions  sufficient  to  in- 
dicate the  presence  of  a  sanctuary  at  some  former 
time,  and  in  addition  a  statue  of  Ceres  in  a  fine  state 
of  preservation,  laden  with  fruit  (grapes,  figs  and 
bananas),  and  bearing  a  wheat-sheaf,  the  habitual 
attribute  of  this  divinity,  who  was  surnamed  the 
"  Goddess  of  the  Harvest." 

A  beautiful  classic  head  of  the  Goddess  was 
likewise  found  here,  veiled,  and  crowned  with  wheat- 
ears  ;  then  came  some  curious  fragments,  apparently 
stumps  of  a  large  marble  serpent  or  dragon,  on 
which  strode  a  tiny  elf — portions  only  of  the  little 
body  and  limbs  remaining,  and  another  stump 
belonging  to  the  region  of  the  reptile's  head,  and 
bearing  wings. 

On  finding  these,  Pere  Delattre  says  he  no  longer 
retained  a  single  doubt  on  the  subject,  for  he  took 
it  that  these  fragments  belonged  to  certain  winged 
serpents  or  dragons  driven  by  small  genii,  which 

133 


134     CARTHAGE    OF   THE   PHOENICIANS 

drew  the  car  of  Ceres,  since  it  is  thus,  according  to 
the  fable,  that  the  Goddess  is  represented  going  to 
search  for  her  daughter,  Proserpina,  whom  Pluto 
had  borne  off  to  dwell  with  him  in  Hades. 

It  was  often  the  custom  in  Roman  times  to  con- 
fide the  sacerdotal  ministry  of  Ceres  to  matrons  of 
the  upper  classes,  whose  office  lasted  for  one  year, 
and  M.  Delattre  mentions  that  in  an  epitaph  from 
Carthage  which  was  acquired  by  the  British  Museum 
from  Dr.  Davis,  the  word  Cereales  is  given  as  a 
cognomen  or  possibly  a  title  to  a  woman  of 
Carthage. 

The  ludi  cereales  consisted  chiefly  of  processions 
in  which  nuts  and  dried  peas  were  thrown  to  the 
crowd,  and  curiously  enough  an  ^g^  was  solemnly 
borne,  possibly  as  a  symbol  of  the  earth  which  Ceres 
had  been  obliged  to  overrun  in  searching  for  her 
daughter  Proserpina,  in  which  case  it  would  seem 
that  the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  the  real 
form  of  our  planet. 

It  was  at  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  century 
before  our  era  that  the  Carthaginians,  frightened 
by  their  reverses  in  Sicily,  and  attributing  them  to 
the  vengeance  of  the  Goddesses  Demeter  and 
Persephone  because  the  army  had  violated  and 
ravaged  their  temple  at  Syracuse,  resolved  to  in- 
troduce them  into  their  pantheon.  They  raised 
statues  to  them,  and,  in  order  to  render  the  Godesses 
favourable  to  them,  they  essayed  to  honour  them 
with  the  pomps  and  rites  of  Greek  sacrifices.  In 
addition  they  gave  the  care  of  their  cult  to  Greek 
priests. 

The  panic  which  was  a  prelude  to  the  establish- 


TERRA-COTTA  STATUETTE  {Bord-el-Djedid) 


iSce  p.  17] 


NECROPOLIS   OF   BORD-EL-DJEDID      135 

ment  of  the  cult  of  Ceres  and  Proserpina  at 
Carthage,  and  the  influence  which  the  Greek  priests 
exercised  on  the  manners  of  the  Carthaginians, 
seems  to  both  explain  and  admit  of  the  dating  of 
the  unexpected  appearance  of  the  custom  of  burning 
the  dead  and  enclosing  their  calcined  and  broken 
bones  in  little  stone  chests.  This  usage  shows  itself 
then  at  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  century, 
for  the  Necropolis  at  Douimes,  which  dates  approxi- 
mately from  the  end  of  the  seventh  to  the  first  years 
of  the  fifth  century,  furnished  scarcely  an  example 
of  cremation  in  upwards  of  a  thousand  sepulchres 
visited  by  Pere  Delattre,  while  these  pits  and  funeral 
chambers  hollowed  in  the  massive  rock — where,  it  is 
believed,  was  raised  the  fanum  of  Ceres — contain 
almost  exclusively  urns  with  calcined  bones,  as 
many  as  eight  or  ten  urns  in  one  chamber.  Between 
four  and  five  hundred  have  been  met  with  in  the 
course  of  investigating  this  site. 

The  custom  of  cremation  seems  to  have  been 
introduced  suddenly  into  Carthage  at  the  epoch 
when  the  Greek  Priests,  charged  with  the  cult  of 
Ceres  and  Proserpina,  exercised  their  influence  on 
the  manners  and  religion  of  the  Carthaginians. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  presence  of  cal- 
cined remains,  especially  those  of  children,  was 
noted  as  having  been  met  with  in  the  cemetery, 
known  to-day  by  the  name  of  "  N^cropole  de  St. 
Louis." 

We  have  to  bear  in  mind  the  possibility  of  another 
cause  than  that  of  natural  death,  affecting  the 
presence  there  of  these  infantine  ashes.  We  have 
to  recall  the  dread  rites  practised  by  the  people  of 


136    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

the  old  city,  the  ghastly  sacrifices  demanded  by 
Baal,  that  Prince  of  Darkness,  who  to  them  was  the 
Lucifer,  the  bearer  and  emblem  of  Light.  The  urns 
and  little  coffins  of  stone  found  there,  containing 
calcined  and  broken  bones,  may  well  have  been  the 
remains  of  those  human  victims  which  the  Cartha- 
ginians were  in  the  habit  of  offering  to  the  god 
Moloch,  on  certain  days  when  the  hideous  statue 
used  to  receive  into  its  arms  and  let  fall  into  a 
burning  brazier  from  two  to  three  hundred  children 
of  the  noblest  families  of  Carthage,  the  mothers 
being  forced  to  look  on  at  these  odious  sacrifices 
without  shedding  a  tear. 

Almost  all  the  tombs  found  at  Bord-el-Djedid 
appear  to  have  contained  uncremated  corpses  in  the 
first  instance,  of  whose  coffins  rarely  anything 
remains  but  the  shreds  of  rotten  wood.  Later  on, 
when  the  practice  of  cremation  established  itself, 
these  same  tombs  were  utilized  to  deposit  the  small 
coffrets  of  stone,  and  the  cinerary  urns  containing 
the  calcined  remains  of  the  dead.  At  least  this 
much  is  gathered  from  the  presence  simultaneously 
in  the  tombs  of  the  burnt  and  unburnt  skeletons, 
and  the  amphorae  or  broken  portions  of  amphorae, 
containing  whitened  ashes. 

The  usual  accompaniments  comprise  numerous 
urns  with  stems,  lamps  of  the  Punic  form  in  its 
later  development  already  noted,  Greek  lamps, 
amphorae  with  conic  base,  cylindrical  amphorae, 
some  of  an  elongated  cone  shape,  jars,  drinking 
vessels,  perfume  burners,  small  double-handled 
cooking  pots,  single-handled  jars,  long-necked  jars, 
cups  and  dishes,  etc.     Again,  there  are  terra-cotta 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      137 

vases  decorated  with  black  varnish,  which  possibly 
served  as  cups  and  bowls,  one  example  being  in 
the  form  of  a  chalice. 

The  frequent  presence  too  of  funeral  stelae,  either 
intact  or  broken,  is  characteristic  of  this  Cemetery. 
They  bear,  sculptured  in  relief,  the  form,  either 
seated  or  more  usually  upright,  of  a  woman,  the 
right  hand  raised,  while  the  left  hand  holds,  sup- 
ported against  the  breast,  a  sacrificial  vessel. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

It  will  be  well  to  deal  with  the  beautiful  marble 
sarcophagi  next,  both  the  simple  painted  examples 
and  the  rare  and  fascinating  anthropoid  specimens, 
so  lately  discovered  for  the  first  time  in  North 
Africa,  which,  excepting  of  course  Egypt,  though 
explored  so  widely  at  so  many  points,  had  until 
within  the  last  two  or  three  years  yielded  no  single 
example  of  anthropoid  sarcophagus.  In  1898,  it 
is  true,  the  White  Fathers  discovered  at  Carthage 
two  ossuaries,  small  stone  coffers,  containing  broken, 
calcined  bones,  the  residue  of  cremation,  on  the 
cover  of  which  the  image  of  the  defunct  was  graven. 
One  of  these  was  accompanied  by  the  name  of 
Baalshillek  the  Rab,  while  the  other,  by  the  pose, 
the  costume  and  the  insignia,  indicated  that  the 
original  had  been  a  priest  of  one  of  the  Carthaginian 
divinities.  Here  it  may  be  mentioned  that  this 
Necropolis,  or  at  any  rate  one  particular  portion 
of  it,  seems  to  have  been  very  much  taken  up  by 
the  occupation  of  the  corpses  of  the  aristocracy  of 
Carthage,  namely,  of  priests,  priestesses  and  rabs ; 
the  latter  title,  of  purely  Semitic  or  Assyrian  origin, 
signifying  prince,  is  met  with  in  the  Old  Testament. 

Here   is   the   description   of   a   fine   monolithic 
138 


NECROPOLIS   OF   BORD-EL-DJEDID      139 

specimen  found  on  November  the  4th,  1902,  be- 
ing the  festival  of  San  Carlo  Borromeo,  when 
P^re  Delattre,  having  just  celebrated  Mass  at  the 
altar  of  the  saint  in  the  cathedral,  was  called  to  go 
immediately  to  the  Necropolis.  Here  in  a  funeral 
pit,  from  under  the  debris  of  two  cedar-wood 
coffins,  was  revealed  a  magnificent  anthropoid 
sarcophagus.  On  the  lid  was  carved,  in  high  relief, 
the  image  of  a  Carthaginian  priest,  lying  extended 
on  his  back,  robed  in  a  long  tunic  reaching  to  the 
feet,  which  are  shod  with  sandals.  The  sleeves 
are  short,  the  right  hand  is  raised,  while  the  left 
hand  holds  the  sacrificial  vessel.  Between  the 
finely  sculptured  toes  is  seen  the  red  colour  with 
which  the  surface  of  the  sandal  had  been  painted, 
while  the  thick  sole  is  apparently  held  in  place 
by  a  simple  sandal-strap,  indicated  by  a  sharp 
black  line  across  the  instep.  There  falls  from 
the  left  shoulder  on  to  the  tunic  and  recedes  to 
the  hips,  a  toga  terminated  by  a  fringe. 

The  head  is  extremely  fine  and  the  features 
well  accentuated.  The  beard  and  moustache  are 
full  and  treated  well,  the  forehead  slightly  wrinkled, 
the  eyebrows  pronounced,  the  hair  fairly  short,  and 
the  ears  small.  The  ensemble  achieves  the  effect 
of  a  very  imposing  portrait.  The  original  could 
scarcely  have  been  other  than  a  man  of  character 
and  personality  to  a  marked  degree.  The  eyes 
were  painted,  and  the  iris  is  still  visible,  giving 
to  the  face  a  peculiarly  living  expression.  The 
right  forearm  is  bare,  and  of  fine  modelling,  and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  the  open  hand,  of  which 


140     CARTHAGE  OF  THE   PHOENICIANS 

however  the  thumb  appears  too  decidedly  arched 
back.  The  left  hand,  holding  the  vessel,  reveals 
a  certain  embarrassment  which  apparently  the 
artist  was  not  equal  to  overcoming.  The  whole 
of  the  forearm  is  suppressed,  and  the  hand  appears 
soldered  to  the  elbow.  This  effect  of  foreshorten- 
ing is  the  least  happy  part  of  this  beautiful  piece 
of  sculpture. 

The  feet  rest  on  a  sort  of  solid  stool.  The 
marble  from  which  the  figure  is  carved  has  ac- 
quired a  reddish  tint  similar  to  that  of  rust,  and 
possibly  due  partly  to  the  action  of  the  colour  of 
the  coffins  with  which  it  was  in  contact,  while 
the  marble  itself  contains  greenish  veins.  Under 
the  right  elbow  of  the  priest  the  coffin-cover 
bears  the  imprint  of  a  basket,  or  rather  the 
bottom  of  a  basket,  and  curiously  this  is  only 
one  of  several  instances  in  which  a  similar  imprint 
has  been  found  on  the  covers  of  sarcophagi.  At 
each  of  the  four  corners  of  the  lid,  iron-handles 
were  cramped  into  the  stone,  which  probably  is 
the  explanation  for  the  presence  of  the  double 
sets  of  holes  found  on  other  stone  coffin-lids.  In 
this  instance  however  the  holes  completely  pierce 
the  marble,  while  they  have  not  been  found  to  do 
so  in  the  other  cases  met  with. 

When  the  cover  was  raised  the  coffin  was  found 
to  contain  an  entire  skeleton,  the  remains  of  a 
corpse  which  had  lain  extended  on  its  back,  the 
arms  lying  straight  each  side  of  the  body.  An 
even  line  extending  round  the  coffin  seemed  to 
indicate  the  height  attained  by  a  liquid  which  it 


NECROPOLIS   OF   BORD-EL-DJEDID      141 

originally  contained,  and  which  has  since  evapor- 
ated, while  at  the  feet  of  the  corpse  in  the  right- 
hand  corner  a  horizontal  incrustation,  about  the 
size  of  a  hand,  showed  that  the  liquid  must  have 
been  an  emulsion  of  resin.  On  the  neck  a  tiny- 
cylindrical  box  of  ivory  or  wood  had  become 
oxidized  to  the  breast-bone,  and  on  removing  it 
the  fork  of  the  sternum  came  away  with  it ;  but 
the  box  itself,  after  a  very  short  exposure,  crumbled 
away  to  atoms,  leaving  revealed  twenty- five  coins 
which  all  proved  to  be  bronze.  Thus  it  is  on  the 
chest  or  at  the  height  of  the  chest  that  the  coins 
are  found.  We  know  the  ancients  hung  their 
purses  from  their  necks  and  put  them  under  their 
outer  garments,  and  even  to  this  day  the  Arabs, 
faithfully  conservative  of  antique  customs,  have 
a  pocket  in  their  bosoms  in  which  they  put  hand- 
kerchief, purse,  and  tobacco. 

The  horrible  practices  of  rifling  the  tombs  and 
thieving  from  the  bodies  of  the  dead  was  not  less 
known  to  the  ancients  of  Carthage  than  it  is  to 
the  Arabs  of  to-day,  and  the  entire  absence  of 
silver  and  gold  coins  in  any  of  the  tombs,  or  of 
ossuaries,  leads  one  to  wonder  whether  this  de- 
plorable custom  was  perhaps  the  cause. 

However,  it  is  possible  to  attribute  other  reasons 
for  the  exclusive  presence  of  bronze  coins  which 
appear  by  hundreds  and  even  thousands,  some- 
times well  preserved  and  with  the  head  of  Perse- 
phone or  Astarte  clearly  defined  and  the  galloping 
Phoenician  horse  or  the  sacred  palm  on  the  reverse. 

It  has  already  been   suggested    that  this  habit 


142     CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

of  placing  only  bronze  coins,  and  sometimes 
even  those  no  longer  in  currency  at  the  time  of 
the  interment,  in  the  graves,  may  indicate  an 
absence  of  generosity  and  a  strong  spirit  of  self- 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the  dead  ; 
but  another  and  very  probable  solution  is  that 
the  golden  rings  found  in  some  of  these  tombs 
were  possibly  coins  in  their  primitive  form,  and 
used  as  such  by  the  Carthaginians,  even  as  the 
Egyptians,  before  they  introduced  stamped  golden 
coins,  made  use  of  golden  rings  for  the  purpose  of 
exchange. 

Three  of  these  golden  rings  were  found  in  the 
stone  coffin  of  the  priest  and  their  position  deserves 
to  be  noticed.  On  the  right  side  of  the  skull  at 
the  bottom  of  the  coffin  lay  two  of  these  rings  and 
the  third  was  found  on  the  left  side.  The  de- 
scription is  given  earlier,  of  a  terra-cotta  mask 
representing  the  face  of  a  man  wearing  bronze 
rings  in  his  ears  and  a  leaden  or  silver  ring  in 
his  nose,  analogous  to  the  Nezem  of  the  Hebrews. 
The  discovery  of  this  mask  revealed  the  fact  that 
nose-rings  were  not  entirely  relegated  to  the  toilet 
of  women,  but  were,  in  some  instances  at  any  rate, 
worn  by  men  also.  In  view  of  this  fact  an  in- 
teresting speculation  arises  as  to  whether  our  priest 
perhaps  wore  them  too,  and  whether  in  the  course 
of  decomposition  the  nose-ring  slipped  down  to 
the  right  and  joined  the  earring. 

The  ring-finger  of  the  left  hand  bore  a  beautiful 
signet  ring,  entirely  of  gold,  engraved  on  the  bezel 
of  which  was  a  profile  head  with  hair  and  beard 


NECROPOLIS   OF   BORD-EL-DJEDID      143 

crisply  curled.  So  close  is  the  resemblance  of 
this  head  to  that  sculptured  on  the  lid  of  the 
sarcophagus  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  we  have 
here  two  accurate  portraits  of  the  defunct  priest. 

The  sculptor  has  succeeded  in  revealing  a  man 
of  character  and  dignified  presence,  and  the  eyes, 
whose  irises  still  retain  traces  of  colour,  gaze 
straight  forward  with  a  reality  and  solemnity 
which  is  almost  startling,  and  this  impression  is 
by  no  means  diminished  by  the  attitude  of  the 
right  hand  raised  in  benediction. 

The  period  when  the  cemetery  was  in  use  is 
believed  to  correspond  with  that  of  the  war  of 
the  Mercenaries,  i.  e.  the  middle  of  the  third 
century  B.C.  The  finances  of  the  city  were  in 
such  a  bad  state  that  Carthage  was  unable  to 
discharge  her  liabilities  towards  the  soldiers  who 
came  back  from  Sicily  loudly  demanding  payment 
for  their  services. 

It  is  therefore  just  possible  that  these  tombs 
belonged  to  that  critical  period  in  the  history  of 
Carthage  when  the  public  treasury  was  completely 
exhausted  by  the  tax  of  the  war,  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  citizens  could  not  accompany  their 
dead  with  the  smallest  silver  or  gold  coin. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  have  been  the  custom 
to  give  to  the  dead  only  the  smallest  pieces  of 
money,  and  the  practice  of  placing  obsolete  coins 
in  coffins  has  been  met  with  in  a  superposed 
Roman  cemetery,  where,  in  addition  to  very 
worn  and  disused  Roman  coins,  was  found  also 
one   belonging   to  the  Carthaginian  era.     In  any 


144    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

case,  up  to  this  present  moment  no  gold  coin  has 
been  found  in  the  Punic  tombs,  and  in  the  oldest 
graves  even  bronze  examples  are  entirely  absent. 
Apparently  their  introduction  was  a  late  one. 
Two  days  after  its  discovery  the  Priest's  sarco- 
phagus was  extracted  from  its  tomb  and  trans- 
ported to  the  Museum,  where  it  was  installed  in 
the  Salle  Punique.  The  small  quantity  of  dust 
which  surrounded  the  skeleton,  on  being  sifted, 
yielded  nothing  more  save  a  tiny  broken  amulet, 
mounted  in  a  delicate,  stirrup-like  clasp  of  twisted 
gold.  The  sarcophagus  contained  no  further 
treasure. 

The  cave  itself  had  from  time  to  time  received 
several  coffins,  two  of  which  had  been  placed  on 
the  top  of  the  sarcophagus.  Three  well-preserved 
skulls  proved  to  belong  to  the  dolichocephalus 
type.  Apart  from  the  sarcophagus,  and  mixed 
up  with  the  debris  of  the  wooden  coffins  and 
bones,  were  found  a  dozen  urns  with  stems,  eight 
bicorn  lamps  with  their  paterae,  three  lamps  of 
Greek  form,  ten  unguentaria,  three  small  single- 
handled  vases,  four  black  cups  with  handles,  two 
small  bowls,  a  white  clay  patera  with  horizontal 
angular  handles,  a  bag-shaped  amphora,  and  one 
with  conic  base ;  as  also  an  alabaster  unguentarium, 
a  tiny  alabaster  Greek  lamp,  a  bronze  hatchet- 
shaped  razor,  some  nails,  several  of  which  have 
gilded  heads.  There  were  coins,  scissors,  a  strigila, 
a  long  glass  cylinder  bulging  in  the  centre,  glass 
amulets  representing  the  sparrow-hawk,  the  alert 
little   figure   of  Anubis,   etc. ;    a   glass    bunch   of 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      145 

grapes  of  the  size,  colour  and  thickness  of  a  fine, 
large,  elongated  blackberry;  portions  of  ostrich 
eggshells  painted  with  human  features,  a  little 
gold  spoon  formed  by  an  open  hand  at  the  end  of 
a  simple  flat  handle  ;  then  a  golden  signet-ring, 
the  bezel  of  cornelian  bearing  a  graven  bull  with  a 
very  elongated  body,  the  tail  in  the  air,  the  head 
abased  in  a  fighting  attitude  ;  and  other  miscel- 
laneous objects.  Such  were  the  contents  of  the 
chamber  containing  the  Priest's  sarcophagus.  On 
the  nth  of  November,  the  octave  of  the  festival  of 
San  Carlo  Borromeo,  another  sarcophagus  was  dis- 
covered, of  a  fine  and  interesting  description,  but 
one  which  may  be  delayed  for  the  present  in 
order  to  deal  with  the  later  discoveries  of  further 
anthropoid  sarcophagi.  On  the  25th  of  Novem- 
ber, in  the  course  of  excavating,  the  workmen 
came  upon  traces  of  a  sarcophagus  and  the  partly 
revealed  foot  of  a  statue.  The  next  day  being 
the  tenth  anniversary  of  the  death  of  Cardinal 
Lavigerie,  the  morning  was  partly  taken  up  in 
celebrating  the  Mass  and  funeral  service  in 
memory  of  the  prelate  who  had  done  so  much 
for  Carthage.  However,  as  soon  as  ever  it  was 
possible,  Pere  Delattre,  accompanied  by  the  Arch- 
bishop, Monseigneur  Combes,  started  for  the 
Necropolis  full  of  the  emotion  of  suspended 
expectation  and  wonder  which  must  always  ac- 
company any  investigation  into  the  secrets  of 
Mother  Earth  by  all  truth-seekers. 

In    the    meantime    almost    the   whole    of    the 
funeral  chamber  had  been  cleared,  and,  on  enter- 

K 


146    CARTHAGE   OF   THE   PHCENICIANS 

ing,  two  superb  anthropoid  sarcophagi  met  the 
eye.  On  the  left  a  priest,  on  the  right  a  priestess. 
The  priest  is  represented  lying  full  length  on  his 
back,  in  the  same  position  as  no  doubt  the  corpse 
below  was  arranged  for  burial.  The  right  hand  is 
raised,  the  vase  of  offering  held  in  the  left  hand  ; 
the  head  is  bound  with  a  circlet  or  band,  the  face 
bearded,  and  the  eyes,  relieved  with  colour,  give 
to  the  countenance  a  striking  expression  of  life. 
The  left  ear  bears  a  gilded  ring.  The  figure  is 
draped  with  a  long  tunic,  on  which  falls  from  the 
left  shoulder  a  toga,  the  insignia  of  his  dignity.  The 
feet  are  apparently  enclosed  in  thick-soled  shoes, 
retaining  traces  of  red  and  black.  The  right  foot 
is  larger  than  the  left.  The  tunic  shows  a  reddish 
tinge,  due,  possibly,  to  the  action  of  that  all-per- 
vading colour  with  which  the  neighbouring  wooden 
coffins,  like  so  many  of  the  wooden  coffins,  were 
frequently  painted,  and  which  especially  belonged 
to  the  people  of  Carthage — that  Phoenician  purple 
which  was  one  of  their  chief  articles  of  com- 
merce. 

But  it  was  the  priestess  whose  beauty  was  a 
revelation,  and  whose  discovery  was  the  crowning 
surprise  of  the  year's  work.  The  brilliancy  of 
colour  and  strangeness  of  her  attire,  far  from 
detracting  from  the  dignity  of  her  presence,  seem, 
on  the  contrary,  to  enhance  the  noble  simplicity 
and  gentle  restraint  suggested  by  the  effigy.  A 
rare  and  lovely  personality  seems  to  have  inspired 
the  sculptor  in  this  instance,  and  not  the  least  re- 
markable trait  indicated  is  the  absolutely  unique 


>••-,> 


[See/.  146. 
ANTHROPOID    SARCOPHAGUS  OF   A 
CARTHAGINIAN  PRIESTESS 

{Bord-el-Djedid) 


[Seep.  146. 
ANTHROPOID   SARCOPHAGUS  OF  A 
CARTHAGINIAN   PRIEST 

{Dord-el-Djedid) 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      147 

character  of  this  type  of  beauty.  She  does  not 
resemble  a  Greek,  still  less  an  Egyptian,  and  the 
Semitic  mould  is  hardly  recognizable  here.  The 
dove  which  she  holds  in  her  right  hand  might  be 
taken  as  a  symbol  of  her  own  gentle  beauty  and 
serious  sweetness.  She  lies  extended  on  her  sarco- 
phagus, which  is  painted  all  over  with  the  most 
brilliant  colours,  and  which  are  still  further  en- 
hanced by  the  addition  of  gilding.  She  wears  the 
costume  of  the  great  Egyptian  Goddess  Isis  and 
Nephtys,  the  body  being  hidden  by  the  two  wings 
of  the  sacred  vulture,  which  enfold  the  hips  and 
cross  in  front,  thus  arching  their  extremities  in 
such  a  fashion  as  to  give  to  the  lower  part  of  the 
body  almost  the  appearance  of  a  fish's  tail.  The 
vulture's  head  appears  surmounting  the  head- 
dress, and  a  short  veil  falls  from  below  it  on  to 
the  shoulders,  leaving  free  the  brow,  surrounded 
by  close  curls,  the  full  calm  face,  the  throat, 
and  ears  bearing  rings.  The  bosom  is  draped 
with  a  slight,  veil-like  fabric,  symmetrically  and 
beautifully  folded,  and  attached  by  two  brooches 
to  a  wide  golden  collar-band,  while  the  same  piece 
of  fabric  continues  from  the  girdle  to  the  feet,  so 
exquisitely  chiselled,  which  appear  from  beneath 
the  robe  and  between  the  two  great  wings.  The 
upper  part  of  the  bosom  is  decorated  with  three 
coloured  bands,  which  pass  under  the  falling  ends 
of  the  veil  and  hair  and  appear  again  on  the 
shoulders.  One  of  these  bands  is  purple-red 
between  two  outer  bands  of  deep  blue. 

The    small    feathers    of  the    great   wings    are 


148     CARTHAGE   OF   THE  PHCENICIANS 

indicated  in  red,  while  the  large  feathers  are 
represented  by  a  sort  of  golden  mesh  on  a  deep 
blue  ground. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  photography  can  do 
no  more  than  reproduce  the  form,  with  its  values 
of  light  and  shade,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the 
expression,  while  it  falls  short  of  the  harmonious 
whole  in  the  lack  of  the  truly  strange  and 
impressive  colouring. 

Surely  here  is  a  pure  type  of  Phoenician  woman- 
hood. That  majestic  calm  which  is  the  outward 
and  visible  sign  of  the  highest  courage  within 
accords  well  with  all  we  are  told  of  the  women  of 
Carthage — of  their  bearing  and  enduring  in  that 
most  terrible  siege,  which  tried  and  proved  them 
valiant  unto  death. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  so  many  visitors, 
on  leaving  the  hall  of  the  Museum  where  she  has 
been  placed,  after  having  gazed  at  this  sweet 
priestess  for  a  long  time,  cannot  refrain  from 
turning  one  last  admiring  glance  towards  her 
before  they  pass  through  the  door. 

In  spite  of  the  small  quantity  of  light  and 
space,  a  gentleman  succeeded  in  photographing 
the  sarcophagus  of  the  Priest  and  Priestess  as 
they  lay  side  by  side  in  the  tomb.  The  next 
operation  was  that  exciting  one  of  opening  the 
coffins,  the  potential  contents  of  which  could  not 
fail  to  evoke  in  the  onlookers  visions  of  sacerdotal 
insignia  and  hopes  of  sumptuous  Carthaginian 
vesture.  Alas  for  the  vanity  of  human  wishes ! 
Each  coffin  contained  a  hole  hollowed  in  the  stone 


NECROPOLIS   OF   BORD-EL-DJEDID      149 

lid,  near  the  head,  large  enough  to  pass  the  hand 
and  arm  well  inside.  Their  presence  augured  ill 
for  the  realization  of  the  visions  indulged  in,  for 
they  spoke  with  no  uncertain  voice,  telling  of  pro- 
faning hands  which  had  disturbed  the  dead  in 
their  last  sleep,  and  of  violation  and  horrid  theft 
away  back  in  the  far  gone  centuries.  On  lifting 
the  lid  which  covered  the  remains  of  the  Priestess 
a  femur  was  found  near  the  skull — conclusive 
proof  that  hasty,  restless  hands  disordered  her 
bones  in  the  search  for  objects  of  value. 

The  corpse  proved  originally  to  have  been  placed 
in  resin,  which  still  adhered  in  a  ridge  round  the 
sides  and  in  the  corners  of  the  coffin.  If  it  is 
possible  to  judge  by  the  jaw,  which  had  lost 
nearly  all  its  molars,  the  Priestess  must  have 
been  a  very  aged  woman.  The  comparison  of 
this  skull  with  the  lovely  countenance  on  the  lid 
might  well  be  appreciated  as  a  sermon  in  stones — 
and  bones.  The  thieves  had  left  untouched 
twenty-one  bronze  coins ;  probably  they  found 
other  things  of  more  value  than  obsolete  cop- 
pers. These  little  coins  bore  the  classic  head  of 
Persephone,  and  on  the  reverse  the  galloping 
horse,  and  were  arranged  in  groups  on  the 
breast. 

Like  the  Priestess's  coffin,  that  of  the  Priest 
was  firmly  and  hermetically  sealed  by  means  of 
iron  bars  and  melted  lead.  Up  till  this  time  no 
similar  instance  of  sealing  had  been  found  among 
the  fifteen  stone  coffins  discovered.  The  usual 
experience  was  to  find  the  lids  fitted  simply  on 


ISO    CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

to  the  lower  part  without  any  attempt  at  adhesion. 
This  skeleton  was  enclosed  in  a  hard  covering  of 
resin,  broken  in  the  region  of  the  head,  near 
the  hole  which  had  been  made  in  the  lid.  In 
evaporating  it  had  shrunk  so  as  to  scarcely  cover 
the  skeleton.  On  the  left  side  of  the  corpse  the 
resin  retained  the  trace  of  a  staff  or  some  such 
implement,  as  long  as  the  coffin  itself.  Possibly 
this  was  an  insignia  or  staff  of  office,  such  as  is 
pictured  being  borne  by  a  priest  on  a  cornelian 
scarabaeus  contained  in  a  signet-ring  found  in  a 
tomb  near  by. 

Chemical  analysis  revealed  the  fact  that  the 
resin  was  a  product  known  as  terebinthine,  an 
extract  from  the  tree  Pistacia  terebinthus^  met 
with  in  the  Mediterranean  basin,  in  Asia  Minor, 
Syria,  Palestine,  North  Africa,  and  the  Canaries, 
and  even  as  far  as  Afghanistan. 

The  curious  imprint  of  a  basket  on  the  stone 
lid,  already  alluded  to,  is  sufficiently  peculiar  to 
have  evoked  a  search  for  an  explanation,  especially 
as  it  has  been  found  to  occur  in  more  than  one 
instance.  And  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  the 
Reverend  Pere  Delattre  is  that  a  basket  of  fruit 
was  originally  actually  placed  on  the  lid,  and  that 
the  action  of  the  acids  from  the  fruit  effected  this 
curious  impression.  A  recent  discovery  would 
seem  to  reveal  what  were  the  kinds  of  fruits  con- 
tained in  these  baskets.  A  gilded  coffin  was  found, 
surrounded  with  figurines  and  other  objects  in 
terra  cotta,  representing  figs,  grapes,  mandarines, 
an  almond,  a  plum,  some  tomatoes,  cucumbers,  a 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      151 

bulb  of  garlic,  a  honeycomb,  and  a  cheese.  These 
diverse  aliments,  which  must  have  entered  into  the 
daily  nutriment  of  the  Carthaginians,  likewise 
belong,  almost  all,  to  the  ordinary  Arab  menu  of 
to-day. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

The  first  day  of  the  following  February  was 
destined  to  furnish  another  surprise  in  the  shape  of 
a  fourth  anthropoid  marble  sarcophagus,  on  which 
was  sculptured  in  high  relief  the  figure  of  a  young 
woman  ;  indeed  it  is  best  described  as  a  statue,  the 
first  discovered  in  the  Punic  tombs.  She  is  draped 
in  a  long  plaited  tunic,  leaving  exposed  the  fore 
part  of  the  feet,  and  a  long  veil  passes  over  and 
falls  from  her  head.  With  her  right  hand  she 
moves  aside  that  part  of  her  veil  which  otherwise 
had  partly  covered  her  face,  while  with  the  left 
hand  and  arm  she  clasps  the  remaining  portion  of 
the  veil  around  her  waist.  This  fashion  of  wearing 
the  veil  recalls  the  Maltese  custom  of  draping  the 
ghonella. 

Unhappily  the  face  has  suffered  some  damage. 
The  hair,  separated  in  the  centre,  undulates  in 
waves  over  the  ears  and  falls  on  to  the  shoulders 
and  over  the  breast  in  long  tresses. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  this  lady  wears  no  bracelets 
nor  rings,  and  apparently  no  girdle.  She  evidently 
is  the  work  of  a  Greek  artist,  and  bears  much 
resemblance  to  an  Attic  funereal  statue  of  the 
fourth  century  preserved  in  the  Louvre. 

152 


[Seep.  152. 
SCULPTURED  MARBLE   SARCOPHAGUS  OF  A   CARTHAGINIAN 

LADY  [Bord-el-Djedid) 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      153 

Nothing  could  be  more  marked  than  the  differ- 
ence of  effect  produced  by  this  Carthaginian 
matron  and  the  Priestess  already  described. 
While  the  former  is  no  more  nor  less  than  an 
embodiment  of  youthful  voluptuousness,  strikingly 
portrayed  by  an  unerring  hand,  from  the  Priestess, 
on  the  contrary,  in  some  mysterious  manner 
emanates  a  power  which  commands  and  keeps  a 
reverent  and  enraptured  recognition,  a  strange  and 
almost  overwhelming  admiration,  deeply  penetrated 
with  awe,  a  calm  and  adorable  beauty  which 
perpetually  satisfies  and  refreshes  the  spirit  as  a 
well  of  cool  water  in  the  desert  would  refresh  a 
thirsty  traveller. 

Although  it  seems  certain  that  this  part  of  the 
cemetery  was  set  apart  chiefly  for  the  reception  of 
the  bodies  of  the  Rabs,  Priests  and  Priestesses — 
there  seems  no  evidence  to  show  that  the  last 
found  sarcophagus,  bearing  on  its  lid  a  statue  of  a 
young  woman,  contained  the  remains  of  a  Priestess 
of  Carthage.  Everything  seems  to  suggest  that 
the  lady  was  simply  the  wife  of  a  rich  Carthaginian, 
possibly  a  Rab,  and  it  is  probable  that  statues  of 
this  kind  were  first  sculptured  for  the  living,  and 
placed  in  a  position  of  honour  in  the  homes  of  the 
originals,  where  they  remained  until  his  or  her 
death,  when  they  served  both  as  a  covering  for  the 
sarcophagus  and  a  monumental  piece  of  statuary, 
preserving  the  likeness  of  the  originals  as  they 
appeared  in  their  prime. 

The  discovery  of  these  four  very  typical  and 
striking  anthropoid  coflfins  completes  that  series  of 
discoveries  embracing  Phoenician  sarcophagi  of  an 


154    CARTHAGE   OF   THE   PHCENICIANS 

analogous  character  in  Spain,  Sardinia,  Sicily, 
Malta,  Cyprus  and  Syria,  the  last  being  the  cradle 
of  this  seafaring  and  colonizing  race.  However, 
the  unmistakably  Phoenician  types  of  womanhood 
are  sufficiently  rare  to  make  any  example  found  of 
an  inestimable  value.  We  remember  the  vivid 
word-picture  of  Jezebel,  the  wife  of  Ahab,  and  we 
wonder  whether  she  is  nearest  in  likeness  to  our 
Carthaginian  lady  or  our  lovely  Priestess,  or  the  very 
curious  and  striking  face  of  the  lady  of  Elche, 
preserved  to-day  in  the  Louvre.  No  three  types 
could  surely  differ  more  than  these.  The  Priestess 
is  utterly  unlike  either,  while  both  in  simplicity  of 
costume,  as  well  as  expression,  our  Carthaginian 
lady  differs  as  widely  as  difference  can  from  the 
sumptuous  ornate  apparel  of  the  Spanish  bust,  as 
well  as  from  its  complex,  subtle  smile.  If  Jezebel 
resembled  any  one  of  these  three,  it  surely  must 
have  been  the  lady  of  Elche,  apparelled  more  like 
the  statue  of  a  goddess  (very  like,  in  fact,  to  many 
statuettes  of  Tanith)  than  even  great  riches  or  high 
station  and  ordinary  personal  comfort  would  seem 
to  have  called  for. 

The  coffin  which  bore  the  sculptured  image 
of  the  Carthaginian  lady  contained  very  little 
beyond  the  remains  of  the  skeleton  of  a  young 
adult  female.  A  broken  unguentarium  came  to 
light,  and  several  potsherds,  some  of  them  the 
remains  of  fine  clay  vases,  some  of  them  the  debris 
of  coarse  earthen  jars. 

A  thick  layer  of  brownish  earth  had  penetrated 
this  coffin,  and  in  the  course  of  carefully  removing 
it  in  layers,  a  yellowish  layer  appeared,  smoothly 


NECROPOLIS   OF   BORD-EL-DJEDID      155 

covering  the  bottom  of  the  sarcophagus.  This 
last  was  the  residue  of  an  enaulsion  of  resin  in 
which  the  corpse  appeared  to  have  been  plunged. 
According  to  Herodotus  the  Babylonians  steeped 
their  dead  in  honey,  but  it  is  not  possible  to  judge 
whether  the  latter  substance  lent  the  tinge  of 
yellow  to  this  preparation  under  discussion.  The 
powdered  remains  of  this  gluey  resin  still  clung 
to  the  bones,  and  melted  in  the  heat  of  the  hands 
when  touched.  On  carefully  sifting  the  remains  of 
this  resin,  fragments  of  a  gilded  bronze  ring  and  a 
Punic  coin  were  found.  The  presence  of  a  similar 
ring  is  more  or  less  of  a  common  occurrence  in  the 
sarcophagi  of  this  Necropolis. 

The  funeral  chamber  in  which  this  last  example 
was  found  contained  likewise  several  other  skeletons 
in  various  stages  of  preservation  and  dissolution, 
like  the  cedar  coffins  which  had  once  contained 
them,  or  still  continued  to  do  so.  The  cave  itself 
yielded  eleven  amphorae  with  stems,  seven  bicorn 
lamps,  four  Greek  lamps,  four  unguentaria,  two 
black  drinking  vessels,  two  small  double-handled 
cups,  and  amulets  representing  Bes,  the  oudjah, 
Anubis,  the  cat,  the  cynocephalus,  etc.,  twenty- 
seven  bronze  coins,  four  iron  nails,  three  bone 
hinges,  two  fragments  of  a  necklace  or  bracelet  of 
gilded  lead,  a  white  pebble,  some  sulphur  and 
some  pitch. 

The  stone  ossuary  which  contained  the  calcined 
remains  of  one  BaMsillek  deserves  notice,  for 
though  the  cover  can  scarcely  be  described  as  any- 
thing much  more  than  a  graven  stone,  it  seems  to 
indicate  a  certain  transition  or  process  of  evolution 


156     CARTHAGE   OF   THE   PHCENICIANS 

from  low  to  high  reliefs,  and  is  likewise  interesting 
as  belonging  to  the  aristocratic  region  of  the  Rabs, 
of  whom  he  was  one. 

This  coffin  is  of  a  solid,  massive  and  heavy 
description  in  proportion  to  its  size.  On  its  lid  is 
designed  the  silhouette  of  an  old  man  in  low 
flat  relief.  There  is  indicated  a  beard  and  a  head- 
dress of  some  kind  of  turban.  He  is  draped  in  a 
long  robe  leaving  bare  only  the  feet,  and  he  lies 
extended  on  his  back,  his  head  resting  on  two 
oblong  cushions.  His  attitude  is  the  usual  sacer- 
dotal one ;  the  right  hand  raised  to  the  height  of 
the  shoulder,  while  the  left  holds  a  sacred  vessel  to 
his  breast.  At  the  top  end  of  the  lid  may  be 
clearly  read,  in  fine  Punic  characters,  his  name  and 
his  title,  Baalsillek  the  Rab.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  point  out  how  nearly  related  it  is 
to  the  Hebrew  Rabbi^  Rabboni.  In  the  long 
inscription  dedicating  a  Temple  to  Ashtoreth  and 
Tanith,  already  described,  the  Rabs  are  named 
after  the  Suffetes,  and  before  the  High  Priests. 
The  characters  of  the  inscription  are  found  to  have 
retained  nothing  archaic,  nor  yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  do  they  in  any  way  presage  the  Neo-Punic 
influence. 

Another  small  crematory  coffer  of  soft  stone 
shows  on  the  lid  the  figure  of  an  old  priest 
in  high  relief,  a  realistic  and  somewhat  clumsy 
representation. 

These  ossuaries  are  usually  found  placed  above 
the  inhumed  corpses,  and  again  coffins  are  fre- 
quently found  placed  on  the  top  of  the  ossuaries; 
still  a  large  proportion  of  the  tombs   contain   no 


^ 


J   H 

1  i^ 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      157 

traces  of  cremation  at  all.  This  curious  irregularity 
of  method  presents  a  problem  for  which  there  may 
be  several  solutions,  but  it  may  be  gathered  with 
certainty  that  at  no  time  was  cremation  a  general 
practice  in  Punic  Carthage,  nor  even  practised 
exclusively  in  the  same  family.  The  presence  of 
cremation  in  certain  tombs  and  its  absence  in 
others  would  seem  to  point  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  took  place  only  in  special  circumstances — cir- 
cumstances possibly  to  be  associated  with  the 
human  sacrifices  which  the  Carthaginians  offered 
to  the  god  Baal  Moloch.  The  victims,  children  of 
the  best  families  of  the  city,  and  at  times  adults, 
were  thrown  into  the  flames  at  the  foot  of  the 
hideous  statue. 

It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  relatives 
of  the  victims  would  endeavour  to  possess  their 
remains  and  place  them  in  the  family  grave,  and 
these  innumerable  ossuaries  found  in  this  and  the 
earlier  cemetery  of  St.  Louis  may  well  enclose  the 
calcined  remains  of  those  unfortunate  victims, 
reclaimed  by  their  parents  or  relatives,  and  disposed 
beside  the  other  deceased  members  of  their  families 
who  had  died  naturally  and  received  burial 
according  to  the  old  Phoenician  custom  of  inhuming 
the  embalmed  corpse,  or  the  simpler  earlier  usage 
of  placing  the  corpse  without  resin  into  the  cedar- 
wood  coffin,  trusting  to  the  preservative  qualities  of 
the  wood,  whose  sap  was  the  true  Xi^avo9  of  the 
Wise  Men,  to  arrest,  at  any  rate  for  a  time,  the 
inevitable  decomposition.  The  large  white  marble 
and  stone  sarcophagi  are  distinctly  more  rarely 
met    with    than    either    the    cedar-wood    coffins, 


158     CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

whether  whole  or  in  a  decayed  condition,  or  the 
little  stone  coffers  containing  the  calcined  bones. 
These,  with  the  funereal  urns,  make  four  distinct 
types  of  burial  in  the  later  necropolis  of  St. 
Monica's  Hill,  otherwise  called  Bord-el-Djedid. 

Here  the  funereal  accompaniments  are  of  a  most 
heterogeneous  description ;  the  potteries  may  be 
said  to  assume  almost  every  known  shape,  the 
amulets  are  exhaustive  in  the  ideas  and  deities 
they  symbolize,  the  masks  evince  an  extraordinarily 
original  and  fantastic  variety ;  the  statuettes  and 
figurines  show  a  certain  affinity  to  Sidonian 
and  Egyptian  archetypes,  but  are  never  actually 
identical.  The  coins,  however,  invariably  retain 
either  the  Phoenician  horse,  or  the  palm-tree  and 
the  classic  head  of  Astarte  or  Persephone. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

A  VERY  curious  fact  is  shown  in  the  abundant 
presence  of  the  handles  of  Rhodian  amphorae,  and 
the  handles  only.  The  potter's  mark  is  there 
clearly  enough,  and  the  symbol  of  the  Rose,  but 
never  the  rest  of  the  vessel  either  whole  or  broken. 
There  are  one  or  two  problems  advanced  by  these 
necropoleis  which  by  no  means  admit  of  a  prompt 
solution  and  dismissal.  We  do  not  nearly  possess 
the  whole  facts  concerning  the  presence,  for  instance, 
of  the  numerous  potteries  in  the  tombs.  It  is 
certain  the  Carthaginians  had  other  than  domestic 
uses  for  the  various  fabrications  evolved  from  the 
potter's  wheel.  The  wall  of  amphorae  filled  with 
earth  and  bearing  inscribed  in  red  and  black  ink 
the  date  of  the  consular  year  in  which  the  wine 
was  made,  is  a  unique  example  of  how  far  removed 
are  our  ordinary  domestic  ways  from  their  ways,  our 
every-day  economical  thoughts  from  their  thoughts. 
The  razors  too  are  there  with  the  meaning  of  their 
presence  to  be  solved.  It  is  generally  admitted 
that  they  constitute  the  most  characteristic  and, 
at  the  same  time,  the  most  charming  of  results  of 
the  Carthage  excavations.     It  seems  certain  that 

159 


i6o     CARTHAGE   OF   THE  PHCENICIANS 

these  bronze  blades,  which  in  some  cases  retain 
traces  of  gilding-,  and  which  have  received  the  most 
delicate  and  artistic  engraving,  are  the  prototypes 
of  certain  razors  used  to-day  in  Equatorial  Africa. 
Quite  recently  Monseigneur  Lechaptois,  returning 
from  a  mission  in  the  Upper  Congo,  and  seeing 
these  razors  at  Carthage,  expressed  the  opinion 
that  they  showed  an  unmistakable  affinity  to 
those  used  by  the  natives  of  Tanganyika  to-day. 
Though  virtually  and  apparently  all  alike  in  form, 
but  differing  in  the  subjects  of  their  engravings, 
there  are,  however,  certain  subtle  differences  not 
easily  demonstrated,  though  readily  perceived  when 
they  are  placed  side  by  side,  and  they  have  that 
peculiar  and  indescribable  attribute  of  being  pos- 
sessed of,  in  a  curious  manner,  a  personality. 
Possibly  this  attribute  may  be  noticed  and  felt  as 
regards  any  of  man's  handiwork,  of  any  description, 
more  especially  as  distinguished  from  machine- 
made  objects,  but  whether,  in  the  case  of  these 
hallowed  implements  of  the  consecrated  barbers,  a 
larger  portion  of  the  maker's  spirit  poured  into  the 
object  of  his  creation,  certain  it  is  that  they  possess 
a  fascination  and  attraction  for  minds  attuned  to 
appreciate  them.  In  every  instance  the  incised 
decorations  bear  an  unmistakably  Egyptian 
character,  and  the  handle  is  invariably  shaped  in 
the  form  of  a  swan's  head  and  neck.  To  the 
unskilled  eye  these  flaky  blades,  notwithstanding 
their  delicacy  of  form,  appear  to  be  little  more  than 
a  mass  of  verdigris.  And  such  they  would  in 
many  instances  have  remained,  with  nothing  but 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      i6i 

their  external  shape  and  the  vivid  green  of  oxidized 
copper  or  bronze,  beautiful  in  itself  as  a  colour,  but 
wholly  disastrous  to  the  existence  of  the  metal — to 
be  admired. 

But  happily  for  the  science  of  archaeology,  a 
patient  and  minute  antiquary,  the  Marquis 
d'Anselme  de  Puisaye,  has  brought  to  light  the 
true  meaning  of  the  scarcely  discernible  lines. 

A  very  perfect  specimen  bears  on  one  side  a 
man's  upright  form  turned  to  the  right,  the  left  leg 
advanced,  dressed  in  a  kind  of  skirt  decorated  with 
patterns  in  the  form  of  crosses.  The  neck  is 
adorned  with  a  collar.  In  the  left  hand  he  bears  a 
palm  towards  which  he  is  holding  up  his  right  hand 
in  a  gesture  of  adoration. 

Beneath  his  feet  a  line  of  oval  shapes  completes 
the  scheme  of  decoration. 

The  reverse  bears  the  form  of  another  person 
wearing  the  double  Egyptian  crown,  and  a  collar 
also  adorns  his  neck.  He  too  lifts  his  hand  in 
adoration,  but  in  this  instance  the  palm  is  an 
entire  tree,  and  is  placed  at  some  distance  from 
him.  The  following  is  the  description  of  another 
specimen  given  by  Pere  Delattre  himself : — 

"  Here  is  a  new  specimen.  It  is  a  razor  found 
more  than  ten  years  since  in  the  Punic  Necropolis 
at  Byrsa. 

"  On  one  face  it  bears  a  sort  of  palm  or  water- 
lily  with  lotus  flowers,  surmounted  by  two  hawks 
bearing  Egyptian  crowns,  and  facing  each  other. 
At  the  foot  of  the  sacred  tree  are  two  birds 
resembling  herons,  cranes  or  ibises. 

L 


i62     CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHCENICIANS 

"  The  reverse  bears  a  representation  of  peculiar 
interest  which  is  further  augmented  by  a  Punic 
inscription  comprising  a  dozen  letters." 

On  presenting  the  photograph  of  this  precious 
piece  of  archaeology  to  the  Academic  des  Inscrip- 
tions et  Belles  Lettres  at  the  meeting  of  September 
22,  1899,  M.  Heron  deVillefosse  gave  the  following 
description  of  it,  which  he  accompanied  with  the 
following  learned  commentary  : — 

"  Beneath  the  inscription  is  depicted  a  bull,  lying 
with  his  two  front  legs  folded  under  his  body.  A 
bird  attacking  a  serpent  is  perched  on  the  back  of 
the  animal,  who  seems  otherwise  pre-occupied. 

"The  origin  of  this  curious  representation  is  to 
be  sought  for  in  the  East  and  no  doubt  as  far  as 
Chaldaea.  Some  bone  combs  decorated  with  an 
analogous  scene  were  found  at  Carthage  and  in 
the  south  of  Spain.  Thus  do  we  find  attested 
the  commercial  predominance  of  the  Phoenicians 
throughout  the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean. 

"It  is  certainly  very  interesting  a  propos  of  the 
bird  perched  on  the  bull's  back  to  recall  the  cele- 
brated bas-relief  of  TA  VR  VS  TRIGARANVS, 
which  decorates  one  of  the  altars  discovered  in 
Paris  in  171 1,  under  the  choir  of  Notre  Dame,  and 
preserved  to-day  in  the  Musee  de  Cluny.  One 
sees  there,  cranes  perched  on  the  back  of  a  bull, 
but  instead  of  the  animal  lying  down,  it  is  upright 
and  adorned  for  sacrifice.  On  the  blade  at  Carthage 
a  bee  or  large  fly  is  engraved  at  the  left  of  the 
inscription — one  of  its  wings  being  overlapped  by 
the  tail  of  the  bird. 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID     163 

"  This  bronze  blade  was  found  at  Byrsa  on  July 
31,  1889.  Preserved  in  the  Musee  de  St.  Louis  at 
Carthage,  it  there  hid  its  secret  for  ten  years  under 
a  thick  oxidized  coating.  It  was  the  skilful  and 
delicate  hand  of  the  Marquis  d'Anselme  de  Puisaye 
which  knew  how  to  reveal  it  to  us." 

As  to  the  inscription,  M.  Philippe  Berger  notices 
that  the  writing  is  archaic  and  analogous  to  some 
ancient  Phoenician  inscriptions  of  Egypt  of  the 
epoch  of  Psammetichus. 

"The  learned  epigraphist  there  deciphered  the 
name  Arbarbaal  son  of  Azar,  preceded  by  a  word, 
the  meaning  of  which  he  could  not  determine.  We 
are  asked  whether  it  is  possible  to  attribute  to  these 
little  monuments  a  votive  character  or  simply 
recognize  in  them  an  instrument  of  special  use. 
Many  of  my  confreres  who  have  sojourned  in  the 
interior  of  Africa,  particularly  the  equatorial  regions 
of  the  Upper  Congo  and  Tanganyika,  have  assured 
me  that  the  negroes  of  this  district  use  razors 
having  the  form  of  our  little  hatchets.  This  asser- 
tion has  led  me  to  see  in  these  objects  genuine 
razors,  and  this  opinion  has  been  admitted  by  the 
savants.  Possibly  these  instruments  formed  part 
of  the  paraphernalia  of  Phoenician  worship,  since 
these  have  been  discovered  in  the  ruins  of  Carthage, 
Votive  Offerings  of  the  Sacred  Barbers,  and  in 
an  inscription  from  Cyprus  we  see  tonsores  form- 
ing part  of  the  personnel  of  the  Temple  of 
Astarte. 

"  We  have  here  perhaps  an  explanation  both  of 
our  razors  in  the  form  of  a  hatchet  and  of  the 


i64    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHOENICIANS 

frequent  presence  of  those  scissors  {forcipes)  in  the 
tombs  of  the  Necropolis  which  we  are  exploring." 

The  razors  are  perhaps  the  most  interesting,  as 
they  are  indeed  among  the  rarest  of  the  finds. 

A  certain  tribute  of  Carthaginian  spoils  finds  its 
way  to  the  Museum  at  Bardo,  the  Official  Palace 
of  the  Bey  of  Tunis,  and  here  one  notes,  as  in  the 
Musde  St.  Louis,  that  there  is  no  plethora  of  these 
little  bright  green  hatchet  razors. 

One  very  oxidized  specimen  remained  for  a  long 
time  covered  with  its  bright  green  coating,  no  one 
having  suspected  that  the  vivid  powdery  covering 
had  any  incisions.  However,  the  Marquis  de 
Puisaye  succeeded  in  rescuing  the  engraving  from 
obliteration,  with  the  result  that  one  side  reveals  an 
upright  figure  turned  to  the  right,  dressed  in  a  plaited 
Egyptian  tunic.  Below  on  the  segment  of  the  arc 
which  forms  the  edge  of  the  razor  a  bull  is  depicted 
with  the  unmistakable  touch  lent  by  the  hand  of 
a  Greek  artist.  The  other  side  of  the  blade  shows 
the  upright  figure  of  a  woman  also  in  profile,  but 
turned  towards  the  left,  and  lifting  her  hands  in  the 
attitude  of  adoration,  while  in  the  lower  portion 
near  the  edge  a  wild  boar  has  been  engraved 
likewise  in  Greek  style. 

Another  specimen  shows  on  the  blade  beneath 
the  invariable  swan's  head,  a  crescent  moon  em- 
bracing a  disc,  a  bird  and  a  large  full-blown  lotus 
with  two  budding  stems  at  each  side.  The  reverse 
shows  two  fishes  facing  each  other,  and  some  unin- 
telligible flourishing  lines.  A  curious  example  is 
one  in  which  on  each  side  of  the  blade  an  upright 


TERRA-COTTA  FIGURE  {Bord-el-Djedid) 


[Seep.  171 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID     165 

figure  with  a  vulture's  head  is  shown.  The  right 
hand  is  raised  in  adoration,  and  in  each  case  the 
head  is  crowned  by  a  circle  enclosing  the  urceus^ 
with  the  difference  that  in  one  instance  it  is  single 
and  in  the  other  doubled-headed.  Another  is 
decorated  with  a  lion  springing  towards  a  plant  or 
tree,  and  a  creature  with  a  large  fish's  or  dragon's 
tail,  and  the  upper  part  of  the  body  in  the  form  of 
a  horse.  One  especially  finely-worked  example 
has  the  figure  of  a  man  seated  on  a  rock  having 
for  a  garment  the  skin  of  a  wild  beast,  probably  a 
lion,  the  head  of  which  serves  as  a  head-dress.  In 
his  left  hand  he  holds  a  bow.  At  his  feet  a  dog  is 
seated  on  his  hind-legs  awaiting  his  master's  orders. 
Near  the  man's  head  appears  the  solar  disc  and 
crescent  moon.  On  the  reverse  a  seated  figure 
leans  against  the  back  of  his  chair,  and  holds  in  his 
left  hand  a  flowering,  undulating  stem.  The  face 
and  figure  is  in  profile,  looking  towards  the  right. 
The  right  hand  hangs  down  towards  a  bird  which 
stands  behind  the  chair.  That  part  of  his  vesture 
which  covers  the  lower  part  of  the  body  is  decor- 
ated with  circles  formed  by  dots,  and  a  scheme  of 
dotting  at  the  top  of  the  head  indicates  a  crisply- 
curled  head  of  hair.  Again,  another  razor  shows 
an  upright  figure  with  the  usual  raised  right  hand, 
and  a  full  and  somewhat  flowing  garment.  The 
reverse  simply  shows  a  symmetrical  palm-tree. 

The  foregoing  examples  embrace  a  represent- 
ative collection  ;  others  there  are  which  differ  only 
in  detail,  but  follow  the  main  lines  of  thought  in 
the  scheme  of  decoration  by  representing  the  up- 


i66    CARTHAGE   OF  THE   PHOENICIANS 

right  figures  in  attitudes  of  adoration,  the  crescent 
and  disc,  the  palm  in  one  form  or  another,  and  the 
lotus  flowers  either  budding  or  in  bloom.  It  re- 
mains to  be  seen  how  much  light  they  will  come 
in  the  course  of  time  to  throw  on  the  origins  of  the 
Holy  Prophet's  work — "the  sacred  profession  of 
Barbery." 


CHAPTER    XIX 

Of  the  Pottery  and  Potters'  marks,  the  subject 
is  so  wide  that  only  a  brief  summing  up  can  be 
indulged  in  here  of  a  matter  which  to  be  treated 
exhaustively  must  be  dealt  with  in  a  work  apart 
from  the  description  of  other  objects. 

Of  potters'  marks,  the   Chaplain  of  St.  Louis 

writes : — "  We  collect  and  publish  with  care  these 

little   monuments    which    at    first    sight    appear 

insignificant,  but  in   archaeology  there  is  nothing 

insignificant,  the  smallest  potsherd,  as  soon  as  one 

can   by   dint   of   a   long    series    of    observations 

recognize  its  origin  and  assign  to  it  a  date,  becomes 

a  scientific  element  enlightening  a  discovery  in  a 

manner  often  remarkable  and  giving  to  it  its  whole 

value.      The     Mus6e     Lavigerie     de     St.    Louis 

possesses  hundreds  of  potters'  marks  of  all  epochs. 

When     these     inscriptions     shall     have     become 

embodied  in   the  Corpus  Inscriptionum  of  Berlin, 

which   publishes  all  Greek  and  Roman   Ceramic 

texts     collected     throughout     the     world,     some 

interesting   conclusions  will   be   opened   out,   not 

only    as    touching    the   history   of    pottery   and 

epigraphy,  but  also,  and  above  all,  that  of  the  great 

commercial  currents  of  which  Carthage  constituted 

the  point  of  departure." 

167 


i68    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

Of  the  Ceramics  it  will  for  the  present  suffice  to 
repeat  the  description  of  one  interesting  specimen 
of  which  the  Rev.  Pere  Delattre  gives  in  his 
account  of  the  work  done  during  April,  May  and 
June,  1898,  in  this  Necropolis  at  Bord-el-Djedid. 

"The  most  remarkable  finds  were  two  terra- 
cotta pieces,  a  small  vase  and  a  figurine,  both  of 
them  decorated  with  painting. 

"  The  vase  is  a  lecythos  of  very  fine  earth ;  the 
body,  of  oval  form,  is  surmounted  by  a  narrow 
neck.  A  slender  handle  takes  up  the  back  of  the 
vase,  which  is  decorated  with  a  palm-leaf  met  by 
two  half-leaves  which  surpass  it  in  height. 

'*  But  it  is  the  painting  on  the  front  of  this  vase 
which  is  especially  interesting. 

"One  sees  here,  a  woman  seated  on  a  stool 
receiving  from  a  slave  the  finishing  touches  to  her 
toilet.  The  coiffure  is  completed,  the  arms  are 
already  adorned  with  bracelets,  the  right  ear  has 
its  earring,  and  the  maid  is  helping  her  mistress  to 
pass  the  second  pendant  into  the  left  ear. 

"  The  slave  herself,  placed  on  the  left  and  seen  in 
profile,  also  wears  bracelets  and  earrings.  On  the 
right  in  the  background  appears  a  band  of  stuff 
finished  at  each  end  by  a  fringe,  and  some  lines. 

"  The  artist,  perhaps,  wished  to  represent  a  girdle. 
This  scene  has  an  astonishing  realism.  The 
drawing  is  perfect ;  the  pose  and  movements  have 
a  quite  remarkable  naturalness ;  the  expression 
is  living.  The  matron,  her  gaze  fixed  on  the  slave, 
seems  to  betray  an  apprehension  of  pain,  and  to 
say  to  the  one  helping  her, '  Oh  don't  hurt  me  ! ' 

"  One  could  not  wish  for  a  picture  more  full  of 


*      • 
>      > 


[Seep.  173. 
TERRA-COTTA  STATUETTE  {Dord-el-Djedid) 


NECROPOLIS  OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID     169 

life.  At  first  sight  the  two  figures  appear  to  be 
painted  in  a  light  tone  on  a  black  ground  of 
metallic  reflectiveness.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  The 
artist,  after  having  determined  by  drawing  the 
position  of  his  models,  has  painted  the  outline  in 
black.  He  has  done  the  same  with  the  palm 
leaves,  filling  with  the  same  colour  the  whole 
remaining  ground. 

"  The  black  colour  has  again  served  him  to  fix 
with  excessively  fine  touches  and  lines  the  features 
of  the  faces  and  the  details  of  the  garments.  This 
system  of  painting  in  reserve  upon  the  light  tone 
of  the  clay  displays  great  art  in  the  painter  who 
has  decorated  this  vase.  To  complete  the  effect 
he  has  employed  white.  With  this  he  has  entirely 
painted  the  stool  on  which  the  matron  is  sitting. 
The  same  colour  has  served  to  indicate  slight  caps 
on  the  heads  of  the  two  women,  likewise  the 
earrings,  bracelets,  borders,  fringes  and  lines  which 
finished  the  two  ends  of  the  band  of  stuff 
mentioned  further  back. 

"Finally,  behind  the  slave  in  the  background 
appear  six  or  seven  little  touches  arranged  in  a 
vertical  line  and  diminishing  in  size  until  the 
lowest  and  last  is  scarcely  perceptible.  The  scene 
depicted  on  our  lecythos  is  truly  a  work  of  art. 
Several  savants  have  thought  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  painting  thus  executed  on  antique  vases, 
particularly  on  Greek  ceramics,  reproduced  the 
pictures  of  celebrated  painters.  The  painting  on 
our  vase,  dating  back  to  more  than  2,000  years,  has 
perhaps  preserved  to  us  the  copy  of  a  picture  of 
one  of  those  great  masters." 


170    CARTHAGE   OF  THE  PHOENICIANS 

The  paterae  or  saucers  placed  under  the  bicorn 
Punic  lamps  likewise  bear  paintings  which  are 
sometimes  very  striking.  On  one  of  these  is 
painted  the  profile  of  a  refined  queen-like  head 
crowned,  and  with  the  hair  parted  each  side  of  the 
brows.  This  profile  curiously  bears  a  certain 
marked  resemblance  to  Queen  Victoria,  sufficient 
to  cause  it,  in  suitable  environments,  to  be  mistaken 
for  a  portrait  of  her  late  Majesty.  Another  disc 
which  was  not  a  patera,  but  apparently  the  cover 
of  a  cylindrical  capsule,  has  on  it  painted  the 
figure  of  a  woman  of  uncanny,  sibylline  aspect, 
seated,  her  feet  crossed,  the  index  finger  of  her  left 
hand  pointing  towards  her  lips,  her  right  hand 
extended  loosely  in  front  of  her.  Both  the  above- 
mentioned  patera  and  this  medallion  are  of 
Etruscan  design,  though  widely  differing  in  the 
type  and  treatment  of  the  subject.  The  seated 
figure  somewhat  recalls  that  of  an  Eleusinian 
priestess,  while  the  Phrygian  cap  and  fingers 
pointing  to  the  lip,  suggest  a  resemblance  to  the 
bust  of  Paris  at  the  base  of  the  Portland  Vase. 


CHAPTER   XX 

The  statuettes  of  this  funereal  region  though 
not  remarkably  plentiful  are  various  and  interest- 
ing. Telesphorus,  a  pagan  divinity  not  frequently 
met  with,  is  found  here.  The  God  of  Convalescence, 
he  is  represented  as  a  young  man  of  short  stature, 
wearing  a  heavy,  monk-like  cloak,  which  falls 
around  him  in  thick  folds  and  reaching  to  his  feet, 
having  entirely  covered  his  thick-set  form  and 
leaving  revealed  only  the  large  solid  face,  gives 
a  particularly  clumsy  appearance  to  his  entire  pre- 
sence. The  Arab  burnous  when  completely  fast- 
ened in  front,  is  somewhat  similar  in  appearance  to 
the  garment  indicated.  The  learned  Benedictine 
Bernard  of  Montfaucon,  on  seeing  this  statuette, 
believed  this  mantle  to  symbolize  an  allegorical 
mystery  easily  divined,  namely,  that  those  who  are 
recovering  from  an  illness  must  be  extremely  care- 
ful of  their  health,  and  keep  themselves  well 
covered.  This  Telephorus,  God  of  Convalescence, 
was  sometimes  associated  with  the  God  of  Medicine, 
iEsculapius,  whose  rich  and  celebrated  temple  is 
mentioned  both  by  Strabo  and  Appian,  and  who 
was  regarded  by  the  Carthaginians  as  their  titular 
deity.  A  statue  was  found  of  this  god,  in  de- 
tachments.     Pere   Delattre    states    how    he   first 

171 


\^2    CARTHAGE  OF  THE  PHCENICIANS 

exhumed  a  Telesphorus,  then  the  portion  of  an 
arm  and  head  of  ^sculapius,  fragments  which 
went  towards  nearly  completing  a  statue  of  the 
God  of  Medicine  found  several  years  before  and 
preserved  in  the  Garden  Museum  of  St.  Louis. 
To-day  nothing  is  missing  but  the  right  forearm. 
A  statuette  of  the  Goddess  Tanith,  often  met  with 
at  Carthage,  but  never  found  in  exact  counterpart 
anywhere  else,  is  one  in  which  the  traditional  mantle 
envelopes  the  figure  and  surrounds  the  back  and 
head  in  a  conventional  shell-like  shape.  The 
head  is  adorned  with  a  high  and  elaborate  head- 
dress analogous  to  those  of  certain  figurines  of 
Cyprus.  Two  masses  of  hair  cover  the  temples, 
while  the  neck  and  chest  are  covered  with  neck- 
laces of  the  ornate  character  shown  in  the  instance 
of  the  wonderful  lady  of  Elche,  preserved  in  the 
Louvre,  and  not  unlike  a  certain  kind  of  adornment 
worn  by  the  women  of  indigenous  tribes  of  Algeria 
and  Tunis.  At  her  feet  were  found  two  amulets, 
one  representing  the  urcBus  enclosing  the  oudjah 
or  eye  of  Osiris  and  the  other  the  sacred  sparrow- 
hawk  surmounted  by  a  kind  of  crown.  One  of 
the  few  terra-cotta  figurines  obtained  from  the 
tombs  in  a  perfect  condition  is  that  of  a  young 
woman,  upright,  draped  in  a  tunic  and  mantle. 
The  head  is  slightly  bent  forward.  The  right  hand 
hanging  by  her  side,  lightly  grasps  the  edge  of 
her  mantle,  while  the  left  hand  rests  on  her  hip  in 
an  attitude  of  ease  so  remarkably  striking  as  to 
recall  the  terra  cottas  of  Tanagra. 

A  unique  little  terra-cotta  figurine  represents  a 
little  winged  cupid  extended  full  length,  face  down- 


>   ,  »  ,  >  >    J> 
'    1  >     J  J  >  '  > 


TERRA-COTTA  HEAD  {Bord-el-Djedid) 


iScep.  171 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID      173 

wards,  in  a  kind  of  square  barque  or  cradle.  This 
well-modelled  little  child's  figure  reposes  carelessly 
and  easily  on  a  clear  brilliant  blue  drapery  which 
emerges  and  lies  in  folds  around  the  body,  covering 
a  part  of  the  legs.  The  wings  are  half  opened 
and  completely  free  from  contact  with  the  sides  of 
the  vessel.  The  head,  raised  and  turned  to  the 
right,  leans  with  ease  on  the  folded  left  arm,  whilst 
the  right  arm  stretched  forward  reaches  over  the 
edge  of  the  barque  where  it  hangs  softly.  The 
colour  is  even  more  striking  than  the  modelling, 
being  of  the  most  vivid,  brilliant  description.  The 
body  is  rather  pale  red,  while  the  hair  is  of  a 
darker  red,  almost  brown  ;  the  wings  are  white. 
On  the  back  a  fine  golden  net  extends  down  the 
spinal  colume  dividing  as  it  passes  over  the  thighs 
and  legs.  As  it  lies  in  its  glass  case  in  the  Museum, 
among  the  antiquities  of  the  Phoenician  age — it  is 
difficult  to  realize  that  it  is  the  product  of  a  Punic 
tomb,  so  absolutely  Greek  is  it  in  design  and 
effect. 

It  has  been  described  as  comparable  to  the  best 
terra  cottas  of  Cyrenaica.  It  is  thought  to  belong 
to  the  third  century  B.C. 

A  figure  of  reddish  clay  represents  a  girl  play- 
ing on  a  dulcimer  dressed  in  a  tunic  and  with  a 
veil  held  in  place  on  the  head  by  a  Stephanos 
decorated  with  flowers  forming  a  crown.  She 
holds  her  instrument  with  ease,  by  the  left  hand, 
leaning  it  slightly  on  her  shoulder.  The  right 
hand,  whose  fingers,  save  the  middle  and  ring 
finger,  are  parted,  appears  ready  to  play  on  the 
disc  so  lightly  held.     Another  figure  likewise  of 


174     CARTHAGE  OF  THE   PHOENICIANS 

red  clay  and  painted,  represents  a  woman  holding 
in  her  left  hand  a  lyre  decorated  with  birds'  heads, 
while  at  the  same  time  she  appears  to  be  offering 
with  her  right  hand  some  sort  of  sacrifice  in  a 
kind  of  patera  which  she  is  about  to  deposit  on  an 
altar  placed  near  her  feet.  The  two  chief  god- 
desses of  Carthage  are  likewise  represented  in 
terra  cotta,  the  mother  goddess,  Tanith,  holding  in 
her  arms  her  daughter  Astarte  or  Astaroth.  The 
mother  goddess  holds  her  daughter  in  her  left  arm 
and  supports  her  with  her  right  in  such  a  pose  as 
seems  to  present  her  for  worship  to  the  beholders, 
a  pose  adopted  so  frequently  in  later  centuries  to 
represent  the  Virgin  and  infant  Christ.  Curiously 
the  daughter,  though  of  diminished  proportions, 
represents  an  adult  in  the  arms  of  her  mother,  and 
is  dressed  and  adorned  in  a  similar  manner,  with  a 
long  tunic  and  earrings  and  a  double  row  of  neck- 
laces, forming  a  deep  pectoral.  Both  are  sur- 
rounded by  the  shell-like  folds  of  the  sacred 
mantle,  though  that  of  the  daughter  is  propor- 
tionately small,  and  the  latter  wears  a  high  head- 
dress which  reaches  above  the  folds  of  her  mantle. 

Near  the  bones  of  an  infant,  together  with  a 
drinking  vessel  known  as  bazzuola  and  ten  un- 
guentaria^  a  terra-cotta  figurine  was  found  repre- 
senting a  man  on  horseback.  He  guides  his  horse 
towards  the  right  and  is  dressed  in  a  short  tunic 
fastened  by  a  girdle,  and  a  tall  conic  cap  or 
casquette. 

Several  examples  are  found  of  an  upright 
female  figure  whose  arms  are  vigorously  extended 
horizontally  with  the   fists  closed — somewhat  the 


NECROPOLIS   OF  BORD-EL-DJEDID     175 

attitude  of  one  indulging  in  gymnastic  exercises, 
but  those  who  have  witnessed  the  Spanish  Basques 
dancing  the  Fandango,  will  probably  not  fail  to  be 
struck  with  the  pose  illustrated,  and  which,  with  the 
foot  slightly  extended  in  front,  is  identical  with 
that  adopted  by  the  dancer  when  commencing  to 
dance.  A  beautiful  little  statue  of  a  girl  playing 
a  double  flute  represents  an  archaic  style.  Her 
mantle  flows  round  her  with  the  shell-like  curve 
seen  in  the  statues  of  the  goddesses  Tanith  and 
Astaroth  (a  mode  of  draping  resuscitated  by 
Raphael  in  the  case  of  the  Sistine  Madonna),  while 
her  robe  falls  in  fine  flowing  pleats  around  her  feet. 

Such,  briefly,  is  the  sum  of  the  work  accomplished 
on  the  site  of  the  richest  city  of  ancient  times ; 
the  archaeological  harvest  which  has  been  gathered 
from  the  three  chief  Necropoleis,  whose  reapers  are 
the  devoted  White  Fathers  of  Carthage.  The 
good  grain  is  not  only  stored  in  the  Convent 
Museum  of  St.  Louis  but  scattered  abroad  in  the 
form  of  literature  published  from  time  to  time,  the 
writing  of  the  learned  Chaplain  whose  valuable 
brochures  are  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  Excavation 
Funds.  Fortunately  for  the  progress  of  his  work 
and  the  benefit  of  the  archaeological  world  gener- 
ally, the  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles  Lettres 
has  generously  furnished  grants  from  time  to  time 
to  facilitate  the  undertaking. 

In  view  of  the  valuable  work  already  accom- 
plished not  only  in  Carthage  but  also  in  Sardinia, 
Malta,  Sicily,  Cyprus  and  Palestine,  there  seems  to 
be  every  reason  to  hope  that  the  time  is  not  very 


1/6    CARTHAGE  OF  THE   PHOENICIANS 

far  distant  when  it  will  be  possible  for  some 
master-hand  to  gather  together  the  gradually  in- 
creasing material,  and  by  means  of  comparative 
methods  and  research  compile  some  such  valuable 
and  illuminating  literary  and  historical  construction 
concerning  the  whole  Phoenician  race  in  all  its 
aspects,  as  shall  come  near  in  usefulness  and  ex- 
haustiveness  to  the  works  lately  given  to  us  from 
the  pens  of  our  greatest  living  authorities  on  the 
vast  and  majestic  subject  of  Egyptology. 

Happily  Carthage,  the  living  centre  and  pivot  of 
that  Phoenician  race,  the  pioneer  of  international 
commerce  and  mistress  of  the  seas,  whose  ruined 
site  and  trampled  remains  have  lain  for  so  many 
centuries  unknown  and  neglected,  has  at  last  re- 
ceived her  visitation  of  peace,  and  in  peace  has 
yielded  up  her  share,  and  continues  to  yield,  of 
those  secrets  of  the  past  which  alone  can  throw 
light  on  her  origins  and  on  the  life  and  habits  of 
her  people.  Coevally  with  the  Isles  which  in  the 
dim  past  she  conquered  and  colonized,  she  now 
begins  to  tell  her  story  in  a  voice  which,  enfeebled 
by  great  misfortune  and  long  disuse,  strengthens 
perceptibly  in  due  proportion  to  the  tests  laid 
upon  it. 


INDEX 


Achilles,  50 

Acropolis,  8,  113,  126 

Agate,  45 

Alabaster,  49,  loi 

Algiers,  68 

Alpha,  74 

Amathus,  63,  90 

Amen  Ra,  26 

Amphorae,  78,  82,  83 

Amphorae,  Wall  composed  of, 

76 
Amphoras  with  stems,  34 
Amilcar,  81 
Amulets,  44,  48,  62,  78,   79, 

81,  91,  92,  144 
Anubis,  25,  45,  104,  144,  155. 
Anthropoid,  Sarcophagi,  138, 

139,  140,  141,  142, 143,  144, 

145,146,147,  148,149,150, 

152 
Aphrodite,  19 
Appian,  59,  76,  171 
Apses,  76 
Arab  destructiveness,  8,  66, 

68 
Arab  menu  of  to-day,  150, 

151 
Arabs  of  Tunis,  34,  141 
Arab  women's  adornment,  82, 

91 
Ashtaroth,  91 
Ast,  25 

Astarte,  19,  32,  43,  45,  141, 
Astoreth,  19 


Athtah,  19 

Auriferous  sand,  54,  55,  56, 
57,58 

Bail,  14,  80,  81,  136 

Bail  Hammon,  80,  81 

Baal    Moloch,   22,  45,    136, 

156 
Ba-Bel,  Tower  of,  15 
Barbers,  43,  163,  166 
Baskets,  74,  91 
Bazzuola,  70,  83,  107,  129 
Beads,  62,  78,  81,  83 
Bel  fires,  15 
Bell,  83 
Beltis,  20 
Bes,  25,28,  45,  63,  81,83,  92, 

104,  155 
Bilit,  20 
Birds,  73 
Bordeaux,  Hatchet  chisel  in 

Natural  History   Museum 

of,  41 
Bou  Khornam,  22,  104, 
Bozra,  18,  72 
British  Museum,  40,  60,  72, 

134 
Bronze,  82,    Ss,   88,  90,   98, 

107 
Budh  Gaya,  14 
Bull  of  Apis,  26 
Byrsa,  8,  18,  61,  64,  69,  70, 

80,93 
Byzantine,  7,  71 


177 


M 


178 


INDEX 


Canaan,  land  of,  i6 

Canaanite  race,  lo 

Cagliari,  36 

Carthago^  Delenda  est,  7 

Castanets,  98 

Cato,  7 

Chaldaean  types,  37 

Chateaubriand,  7 

Chronos,  22 

Coins,  26,  107,  149,  155 

Constantine,  68 

Corinthian,  proto-,  48 

Cornelian,  45,  150 

Corvreux  Decauville,  92 

Cow-worship,  21,  73 

Cremation,  13,  33,  48,  49,  78, 

136 
Crescent,  occurrence  of,  26 
Crescent,  symbolism  of,  21 
Crocodiles,  26,  104 
Cynocephalus,  26,  45 
Cyprus,  65,  83,  145,  172 

Dagon,  24 
Darius,  12,  83 
Devil's  Tower,  21 
Diana,  19 
Dido,  18,  83 
Disc  of  Tanith,  26,  80 
Dolphin,  82 
Dove,  26,  III 

Ea-Han,  24 
Earrings,  89,  90 
Ebony,  45, 
Eden,  Garden  of,  10 
Edrisi,  Arab  historian,  66 
Egyptian  Gods,  18,  25 
Egyptian  Pantheon,  25 
Emerald,  24,  45, 
Enamel,  45,  62 
Equatorial  Africa,  44,  160 
Etruscan  influence,  48 
Etruscan  race,  10 
Ezekiel,  81 


Fish,  26,  73,  79 
Fishing  hooks,  31,  32,  82 
Flowers,  74 
Fruit,  132,  150,  151 
Funeral  accompaniments,  29, 
31,32 

Genoa,  98 

Glass,  45,  49,  98 

Gold,  24,  45,  83,  97 

Gods  of  Carthage,  19 

Golden  Calf,  21 

Golden  Candlestick,  117,  118 

Goldsmiths,  81 

Hadj-Aly,  85 

Hammam  Lif,  23 

Hannibal,  11 

Hanno,  13 

Hebrew  tombs,  84,  119,  123 

Herodotus,  24.  47, 155 

Hercules,  24,  79 

Hieroglyphics,  48 

Hiram's  Pillars,  24 

Horse,  26 

Horus,  47 

Inhumation,  13,  48 
Inscriptions,  31,  49,  51,   54, 

81,  121,  129,  130,  131 
lo,  Legends  of,  21 
Iron,  81 

Italo-Greek  influence,  48 
Ishtah,  19 
Isis,  21,  25, 104 
Istah,  20 
Ivory,  45,  82,  98 

Jasper  45,  79 

Jews,  antipathy  to,  17 

Jews,  presence  in  Tunis  of, 

124 
Jews,  race,  10 
Jezebel,  154 
John,  origin  of  name,  24 


INDEX 


179 


Jonah,  74,  75 
Justin,  83 

Kamart,  115 

Kirjath  Hadeschath,  18,  42 

Lamps,  primitive  Punic  type, 

34,  49,  163 
Lamp,  seven-branched  type, 

34,  35,  36,  37 
Lapis  lazuli,  45 
Lava,  45 
Lavigerie,  Cardinal,  9, 68, 85, 

92,114,  145 
Lead,  45,  81 
Lion,  26,  73,  92 
Lotus,  26,  161 
Louvre,  90,  152,  154 

Magalia,  61 
Magon,  52,  81 
Malachite,  ']'}i 
Malta,  34,  loi,  154 
Manetho,  47 
Masks,  33,  39,  73,  89 
Masonic  symbols,  16 
Melcarth,  24 
Menhirs,  16 
Mesopotamia,  10,  40 
Middle  Ages,  66,  71 
Midsummer  Night,  15 
Milan,  72 
Military  belt,  65 
Military  skill,  11,  65 
Milk,  traces  of  remains,  63 
Minerva,  74 
Mirrors,  91,  95 
Moloch,  24 
Monkey,  82 
Mosaics,  73 
Mother  of  Pearl,  45 
Museums,  35,  72,  75,  79,  loi, 

172 
Musulman  Cemetery,  71 


Nails,  128 

Nature,  Worship  of  vivifying 
principle  of,  14 

Necklaces,  32,  78,  81,  92 

Neter — Hieroglyphic  sym- 
bol, 43 

Nizem^  40 

Nimrod  the  Hunter,  1 5 

Cannes,  24 

Onyx,  73 

Osiris,  18,  25,  45,  83,  104 

Oudjah,  26,  63,  81,  92 

Palm,  26,  50,  82 

Persephone,  19 

Phallic  Towers,  21 

Phthah,  25,  28,  45,  46,  104 

Plautus,  12,  51 

Pliny,  13 

Polyxena,  50 

Porphyry,  73 

Pottery,  32,  34,  49,  50,  51,  70, 

78,  83,  87,  89,  92,  97,  100, 

loi,  108,  158,  167 
Proserpina,  19 
Psammetichus,  46 
Ptolemy,  109 
Punica  fides  ^  11 
Punic  characters,  31,  38,  51, 

52,  53,  156 
Pygmalion,  32 

Queen  of  Heaven,  21 

Ra,  25,  45 

Razors,   41,   42,  43,  44,  64, 

105,  144,  159,  160, 161,  162, 

163,  164,  165,  166 
Religious  beliefs,  14 
Rings,  51,82,  155 
Roman  cistern  and  wall,  71, 

75,76 
Rose,  53,  54 
Rosenberg,  70 


i8o 


INDEX 


Rhodes,  53,  54,  83 

Saida  (ancient  Sidon)  34,  83, 

98 
Saracen  destruction,  7 
Sardinia,  34,  40,  79,    80,  92, 

154 
Saturn,  22 
Scarabsei,  26,  45,  46,  47,  48, 

150 
Schliemann,  69 
Sekhet,  46,  47 
Semitic  race,  10 
Serapis,  47 

Serpents,  24,  26,  50,  73 
Sethos,  46 
Sicily,  109,  154 
Sidonians,  abomination    of, 

15 

Silver,  45,  81,  82,  96,  98 
Solomon's  Temple,  24 
Sparrowhawks,  26,  81,  104, 

144 
Sphinx,  20,  113 
St.  Augustine,  74 
St.  Jerome,  75 
Stelse,  60,  80,  81,  137 
Sun  and    Moon    Worship, 

14 
Syria,  154 

Tabnite,  32 
Tadmelak,  34 
Tanagra,  172 
Tanganyika,  44,  160 
Tanith,  20,  45,  60,  79,  80,  81, 

no 
Tarshish,  42,  75,  81 


Tainat,  20 

Terra  cotta  Statuettes,  no, 
158,    171,    172,    173,    174, 

175 
Telesephorus,  171,  172 
Tello,  108 
Tharchiche,  75 
Tharros,  79 
Tiberius,  75 
Tin,  81 

Triangle,  22,  26,  38,  79 
Tripoli,  71 
Triton,  24 
Troilis,  50,  51 
Troy,  69 

Tunis,  12,  63,  71,  75 
Turkey,  71 
Tyre,  18,81,  98 

Urasus,  26,  62,  81,  92 
Utica,  18 

Vases,  50,  S;^,  90, 168,  169 

Venice,  68 

Venus  Ccelestis,  19 

Vermilion,  33 

Viper,  62 

Virgil,  83 

Virgin — worship    of    virgin 

goddess,  20,  21 
Virgo,  19 
Vulgate,  81 
Vulture,  25,  147 

Whale,  remains  of,  74 

Zodiac,  19 


PUBLICATIONS   OF  THE   WHITE  FATHERS 

(Mus^e  Lavigerie  of  St.  Louis  of  Carthage) 


PARIS:  IMPRIMERIE  PAUL  FERON-VRAU 

5,  RUE  BAYARD,  S 


1  Lampes  chr^tiennes  de  Carthage. 

2  Inscriptions  de  Chemtou  (Simittu). 

3  Inscriptions  de  Ghardimaou. 

4  Inscriptions  de  Tunis. 

5  Nouvelle  ddcouverte  en  Tunisie. 

6  D^couverte  d'un  cimetiere  chr6tien 

dans  les  mines  de  Carthage. 

7  Inscriptions  de  Chemtou  (Simittu) 

(suite). 

8  Inscriptions  de  Rad^s  (Maxula). 

9  Nouvelles  Inscriptions  de  Tunisie. 

ID  Marques  de  fabrique  recueillies  k 
Carthage  sur  des  vases  de  poterie 
romaine,  grecque  et  punique. 

11  Inscriptions  de  El-Mohamdia  et  de 

Zaghouan. 

12  Inscriptions  de  Chemtou  (Simittu) 

(suite). 

13  Fouilles    et    d^couvertes  dans  un 

ancien  cimetiere  chr^tien  de  Car- 
thage, situ6  pres  de  La  Malga. 

14  Ruines  d'une  antique  synagogue  k 

Hammam-Lif. 

15  Notes  sur  une  monnaie  vdnitienne. 

16  Marques  de  potiers  relev^es  sur  des 

lampes  trouvdes  \  Carthage  et 
dans  les  environs. 

17  Marques  de  fabrique  recueillies  \ 

Carthage  sur  des  vases  de  poterie 
romaine,  grecque  et  punique 
(suite). 

18  Poids  antiques  de  bronze  trouv^s  \ 

Carthage. 

19  Carthage  et  la  Tunisie  au  point  de 

vue  archdologique. 

20  Objets   du  Mus^e  de  Saint-Louis 

envoy<is  k  I'exposition  d'Amster- 
dam.  i^ 


21  Epigraphie  chritienne  de  Carthage. 

22  Inscriptions  de  Carthage. 

23  Quelques  inscriptions  de  la  Tunisie. 

24  Marques    de    potiers    relev6es    ^ 

Carthage. 

25  Mosaiques  chr^tiennes  de  Tabarca. 

—  sceaux  et  bagues  trouv6s  ^ 
Carthage. 

26  Les  tombeaux  puniques  de  Byrsa. 

— Inscriptions  chr^tiennes  de 
Carthage. — Marques  de  potiers 
trouv^es  k  Hadrumete. 

27  Inscriptions  de  Carthage. 

28  Marques    de    portiers   relev^es    \ 

Carthage  (suite). 

29  Le  culte  de  la  Tr^s  Sainte  Vierge  \ 

Carthage  aux  premiers  si^cles. 

30  Inscriptions    chr6tiennes    trouv^es 

sur  diff^rents  points  de  I'ancienne 
ville  de  Carthage  en  1885-1886. 

31  Fouilles    dans    la    basilique     de 

Damous-el-Karita  en  1884. 

32  Inscriptions  latines  de  Carthage  ; 

33  Inscriptions    chr^tiennes    trouv^es 

de  1884  a  1886  dans  les  fouilles 
d'une  ancienne  basilique. 

34  Notice    sur   les   plombs  chr^tiens 

trouvis  k  Carthage. 

35  Exciursion  dans  le  Zab  occidental. 

35  A.  Sujets  Chretiens  figurds  sur  le 
fond  intdrieur  de  vases  de  belle 
poterie  rouge. 

35  B.  Divers  fragments  d'une  liste 
d'ethniques  trouv6s  k  Carthage  de 
1879  k  1888. 

35  C.  Une  caserne  romaine  dans  le 
Sahara. 


l82 


PUBLICATIONS 


36  Inscriptions    chrdtiennes   trouv^es 

dans  les  foulles  d'une  ancienne 
basilique  (suite). 

37  Inscriptions    paiennes,    latines    et 

grecques,  trouvees  a  Carthage  de 
1886  k  1889. 

38  Fouilles  d'un  cimetifere   remain  a 

Carthage  en  1888. 

39  Lampes  antiques  du  musde  de  Saint- 

Louis  de  Carthage. 

39  A.  Note    sur    la    d^couverte    de 

Ndftris. 

40  Tunisie.     Epigraphie  chr6tienne. 

41  Les  tombeaux  puniques  de  Carth- 

age. 

42  Les  lampes  chritiennes  de  Carth- 

age. 

43  Epigraphie  chr^tienne  de  Carthage 

de  1888  h.  1889. 

44  Souvenirs  de  la  croisade  de  saint 

Louis,  trouv6s  k  Carthage. 

45  Inscriptions  de  Carthage.  —  Epi- 

graphie paienne. 

46  Les  tombeaux   puniques   de   Car- 

thage ;   la    n^cropole  de  Saint- 
Louis. 

47  L'^pigraphie  chr^tienne  k'^Carthage. 

48  Marques  de  vases  grecs  et  romains 

trouvees    k    Carthage    en    1888- 
1890. 

49  Quelques  marquesMoliaires  trouvees 

k  Carthage  en  1891. 

50  Inscription  de  Tunisie. 

51  La  basilique  de  Damous-el-Karita, 

k  Carthage. 

52  Epigraphie  chr^tienne  en  Tunisie. 

53  Inscriptions   chr^tiennes  de    Bou- 

Ficha. 

34  Inscriptions  de  Carthage  ;  Epigra- 
phie paienne,  1890-1892. 

54  A.  Inscriptions  chr^tiennes  prove- 

nant  de  la  basilique  de  Damous- 
el-Karita,  1 890-1891. 

55  Photographies  envoydes  k  1' exposi- 

tion de  Madrid. 

56  ArchEologie  chr^tienne  de  Carthage 

1889-1892. 

57  Amphore  cachetde   d'un  cimetiere 

Chretien  de  Taparura. 

58  Tunisie.     Epigraphie     chrEtienne. 

Inscriptions    de   Mactar    et    de 
Kairouan. 


59  Saint-Louis  de  Carthage. 

60  Lampes    et    plats     chr^tiens    de 

Carthage.    < 

61  Marques  de  vases  grecs  et  romains 

trouvEs  a  Carthage,  1 891 -1893. 

62  Communicationla  I'AcadEmie  d'Hip- 

pone,  1893. 

63  Note  sur  El-Alia  (Uzalis). 

64  Tunisie.— Notes  archdologiques. — 

Le  Bou-Kornain. 

65  Fouilles  arch^ologiques  sur  le  flanc 

de  la  coUine  de  Saint-Louis,  en 
1892. 

66  Carthage.— Notes   archdologiques, 

1892-1893. 

67  Souvenirs    de    I'ancienne    Eglise 

d'Afrique. 

68  Catalogue  du  musEe  arch^ologique 

de  Saint-Louis  de  Carthage 

69  Inscriptions  de  Carthage  (suite).— 

-  [fepigraphie  paienne. 

70  Le  mur  k  amphores  de  la  colline  de 

Saint-Louis. 

71  Marques  c^ramiques   grecques  et 

romaines  trouvdes  k    Carthage, 
1893-1894. 

71  A.    Les    citations   bibliques   dans 

I'Epigraphie  africaine. 

72  Carthage.  Inscriptions  chr6tiennes. 

72  A.  Les    Inscriptions  romaines    de 

Carthage. 

73  Gamart  ou  la  ndcropole  juive  de 

Carthage. 

74  Petit  guide   du   voyageur  k  Car- 

thage. 

74  A.  Carthage. 

75  Carthage  autrefois,   Carthage  au- 

jourd'hui. 

75  A.  L'antique  chapelle  souterraine 

de  la  colline  de  Saint-Louis. 

76  N6cropoIe  punique  de  la  colline  de 

Saint-Louis. 

77  Notes  sur  les  fouilles  de  I'Amphi- 

th^atre. 

78  Lampes  romaines  orn^es  d'un  sujet 

trouvees    a  Carthage    en    1896, 
dans  le  cimetiere  des  Officiales. 

79  Marques  c^ramiques   grecques  et 

romaines. 

80  Quelques  tombeaux  de  la  n^cropolc 

ue  de  Doulmes,  1892-1894. 


PUBLICATIONS 


183 


81  La  n^cropole  punique  de  Douim^s, 

189 3-1894. 

82  Un  mois  de  fouilles  dans  la  ndcro- 

pole  punique  de  Douim^s. 

83  La  n^cropole  punique  de  Douimes, 

1895-1896. 

84  D^couverte  de  tombes  pimiques. 

85  Les  grandes  statues  du  Mus^e  de 

Saint-Louis. 

86  Fouilles   dans    I'amphith^atre    de 

Carthage,  1896-1897. 

87  Lettre  k  M.  H^ron  de  Villefosse  sur 

les  fouilles  de  la  n^cropole  punique 
voisine  de  Sainte-Monique. 

88  Lettre  h.  M.  H6ron  de  Villefosse  sur 

les  fouilles  de  la  n^cropole  punique 
voisine  de  Sainte-Monique. 

89  Lettre  k  M.  H6ron  de  Villefosse  sur 

les  fouilles  de  la  n^cropole  punique 
voisine  de  Sainte-Monique. 

90  Un  fragment  de  lampe  chr^tienne. 

90  A.  Lettres  sur  les  fouilles  de  Car- 

thage, octobre-d^cembre  1898. 

91  Fouilles     ex^cut^es     k     Carthage 

pendant  le  premier  trimestre  de 
1889,  dans  la  n^cropole  punique 
voisine  de  Sainte-Monique. 

92  Note  sur  I'emplacement  du  temple 

de  C6res  k  Carthage. 

93  Les  cimetieres  remains  superposes 

de  Carthage. 

94  Les  cimetieres  remains  superposes 

de  Carthage  (suite). 

95  Notes    archtologiques :    Thibaris, 

Zembra,  Gilium,  Tunis. 

95  A.    Mus6e    Lavigerie    de     Saint- 

Louis  de  Carthage. 

96  La  n^cropole  punique  voisine  de  la 

celline  de  Sainte-Monique. — Le 
premier  mois  des  fouilles,  Janvier 
1898. 

97  Note  sur  le  sable  aurifere  de  Car- 

thage et  sur  une  collection  de 
plombs  avec  inscriptions  trouv^s 
k  Carthage. 

98  Marques   c6ramiques  grecques  et 

romaines  recueillies  h.  Carthage. 

99  Imprecation  sur  lamelle  de  plomb 

trouvee  a  Carthage. 

100  Rapport  surles  fouilles  de  Carthage. 

101  Inscriptions  chretiennes  trouvees  k 

Carthage,  1 895-1 898, 


102  Lettre  sur  les  fouilles  de  la  nicro- 

pole  voisine  de  Sainte-Monique, 
h  Carthage. 

103  Necropole    punique    voisine    de 

Sainte-Monique. — Second  mois 
des  fouilles,  f^vrier  1898. 

104  Necropole    punique    voisine    de 

Sainte  -  Monique.  —  Troisifeme 
mois,  mars  1898. 

105  Inscriptions  sur  terres    cuites   et 

menus  objets  trouv^s  k  Carthage, 
I 899- I 900. 

106  Poids  de  bronze  antiques. 

107  La  ndcropole  punique  voisine  de 

Sainte-Monique,  k  Carthage. 

108  Inscriptions  c^ramiques  trouv^es  k 

Carthage,  1900. 

109  La  n^cropole  punique  voisine  de 

Sainte-Monique.  — 2»  trimestre 
des  fouilles,  avril-juin  1898. 

no  La  colline  de  Saint-Louis,  k  Car- 
thage. 

111  Sarcophage  en  marbre  blanc  ornd 

de  peintures  (epoque  punique). 

112  Necropole    punique     voisine    de 

Sainte-Monique  k  Carthage. — 
2*  semestre  des  fouilles,  juillet* 
ddcembre  1898. 

113  Carthage  autrefois,  Carthage  au- 

jourd'hui. 

114  Un  peierinage  aux  ruines  de  Car- 

thage et  au  Musde  Lavigerie. 

115  Fouilles  ex^cutees  dans  la  necro- 

pole  punique  voisine  de  Sainte- 
Monique. 

116  Sarcophage  de  marbe  blanc  avec 

couvercle  ornd  d'une  statue, 
trouve  dans  une  tombe  punique. 

117  Une  cachette  de  monnaies  k  Car- 

thage au  v*  siecle. 

118  Poids    de    bronze     antiques   du 

Mus^e  Lavigerie. 

119  Le     quatri^me     sarcophage    de 

marbre  blanc. 

120  Poids     carthaginois     en    plomb. 

Disque  de  bronze,  flan  de  mon- 
naie  ou  poids. 

121  Decouverte  d'un  cinqui^me  sarco- 

phage de  marbe  blanc. 

122  Sixieme    sarcophage  de    marbre 

blanc  peint. 


1 84 


PUBLICATIONS 


123  Marques  c^ramiques  grecques  et 

romaines  trouv^es  durant  I'ann^e 
1 901. 

124  Septieme  et  huitieme  sarcophage. 

Deux  sarcophages  anthropoides. 

125  Note  sur  une  ndcropole  punique 

voisine  de  Sainte-Monique. 

126  A  I'amphith^atre  de  Carthage. 

127  Figurines   trouv^es    a    Carthage 

dans    une    ndcropole  punique. 

128  Las  grands  sarcophages  anthrop- 

oides du  Musde  Lavigerie. 

129  Deux  hypog^es  de  Gamart. 


130  Marques    c^ramiqes    trouv^es    k 

Carthage. 

131  Inscriptions  de  Carthage, 

132  Epitaphes  puniques  et  sarcophage 

de  marbre, 

133  La    ndcropole  des  Rabs,  pretres 

et  pretresses  de  Carthage. 

134  Un  cercueil   de  bois  a  couvercle 

anthropoi'de. 

135  Groupe  de  figurines. 

136  Lettre  a  M.  Phil.  Berger  (Textes 

puniques). 


Richard  Clay  &>  Sons,  Limited^  London  and  Bungay. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURM  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

Th«  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
Renewed  books  are  subjea  to  immediate  recall 


£^iJ-^Mast 


M 


%M2ij9a 


SENT  ON  ILL 


LD21A-607«-2,'67 
(H241slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YB  34116 


iinilfliniw'-'^^   L/BRARHS 


III 


<^03137STb3 


